Boys tennis: Avon's best season ends with district final loss to Solon

SOLON — Avon's historic season landed two sets short of a state tournament berth. Solon got wins at all three singles positions to win 3-1n and claim its second straight Ohio Tennis Coaches Association Northeast district championship at Solon Community Park on Monday. The Comets (15-2) will face Cincinnati Sycamore in the state semifinals — a rematch last year's state championship. Avon finishes its team season at 12-3, but Logan DeHaven, Luke LeMaster and A.J. Sidoti will compete at the individual state tournament at Ohio State beginning Thursday. The Eagles were trying to become the first boys team from Lorain County to reach the OTCA state semifinals. "Their team played great and they deserve a chance to go down and represent Northeast Ohio," Avon coach Eric Korey said. "The reason why it hurts is because so much is on the line, but this is where you want to be. You want to be in these matches every year. We didn't get it done today, but it doesn't detract from the season we had. This is a historic season for Avon." Avon faced some tough lineup choices. With Solon's second singles player Zach Krantz having bested the Eagles twice in the regular season, the Eagles elected to go all-in at doubles with LeMaster and Sidoti, who usually play singles, partnered with Jay Kneiss and Aneesh Yerramsetti at first and second doubles, respectively. Sidoti and Yerramsetti jumped to a 4-1 lead in the opening set against Justin Reimschisel and Bo Bui, then won eight of the next 10 games to close out the match. "We had a great season, we just ran into one bump," Sidoti said. "Aneesh and I played in practice yesterday, felt a very good connection so we decided to play second doubles. We were very aggressive, so that worked a lot for us today." LeMaster and Kneiss were broken on three straight service games by Solon's Aakarsh Garg and Ashwin Ramachandran to lose the first set 6-2. However, the duo rallied for three straight wins — including a pair of breaks — to take a 5-2 lead in the second and hold on for the 6-4 win. Meanwhile, Solon's top singles player Niko Romanov — also a state qualifier in singles — broke DeHaven to take the first set 6-4. The Avon senior responded with a 6-1 win as both the first singles and first doubles matches headed to a third set with the remaining courts cleared. DeHaven went down a break 2-1, but immediately evened the score. Bad luck picked the worst possible time to strike for DeHaven, however, when facing break point, Romanov's return clipped the net and dribbled over to give the Solon senior a 3-2 lead. Both matches faced a pivotal moment at the exact same time. Solon's doubles team forced deuce on LeMaster's serve just as Romanov saved game point to do the same on DeHaven's. A crazy rally led to Solon putting things back on serve at doubles, and seconds later a long forehand put Romanov up 5-2 with a chance to serve out the title. Romanov didn't disappoint, giving himself three set points. DeHaven fought off one, but Romanov closed out the championship with a thunderous first serve. With the team championship clinched, the doubles match went unfinished at 3-3. "He hit some big shots," DeHaven said. "At the end of the day I just didn't get it done in the third set. This was a historic season, the furthest Avon's ever been in this tournament. Normally we'd be done by this point, so it's been fun, it's been a good ride." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com and follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter. Solon 3, Avon 1 FIRST SINGLES: Niko Romanov (S) def. Logan DeHaven, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 SECOND SINGLES: Zach Krantz (S) def. Jarett Bungo, 6-1, 6-1 THIRD SINGLES: William Wang (S) def. Franco Gallo, 6-0, 6-2 FIRST DOUBLES: Luke LeMaster-Jay Kneiss (A) vs. Aakarsh Garg-Ashwin Ramachandran unfinished at 2-6, 6-4, 3-3 SECOND DOUBLES: A.J. Sidoti-Aneesh Yerramsetti (A) def. Bo Bui-Justin Reimschisel, 6-4, 6-0