Boys tennis: Avon's depth on display as it continues special season at district tournament

It's easy to see why Avon was voted the No. 1 team in its district going into the postseason. The Northeast district tennis coaches wisely gave Avon the top choice during the pre-voting process for the sectional tournament. The Eagles responded by sending all seven of their players to the district tournament, which begins Thursday at the Springside Athletic Club in Bath Township. "It's great because we're all really good friends," said junior A.J. Sidoti, the Eagles top singles player and sectional champion. "It elongates the season and allows us to just have more fun." Avon might have the most qualifiers, but it's been a deep tennis season for Lorain County as a whole with 12 players from the area making it to district tournaments that will be played Thursday through Saturday — 10 in Division I and two in Division II. But the Eagles are in the midst of one of the area's best three-year runs in recent history, once again advancing to the Elite Eight of the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association state team tournament thanks largely to the depth at the top of their lineup. Sidoti is a three-time district qualifier with a 25-2 record who has his sights set on a third state bid, his first in singles. Luke LeMaster, who coach Eric Korey consistently describes as the "heart and soul" of the team, does a little bit of everything. He's played all three singles spots and makes a strong doubles partner when needed. The four-time district qualifier enters the tournament with a 22-4 record and a 107-16 career mark. Jay Kneiss gives the Eagles a huge advantage at third singles because the reality is he can hold his own in the top spot. Kneiss is 24-2 and, for the second straight year, enters the district tournament as a No. 3 seed. He can play doubles when needed — like last year when Avon had Logan DeHaven in the top spot and Kneiss spent all of the regular season primarily at first doubles. The senior missed the first two seasons with an injury. Like Kneiss, Avon's two doubles teams will have an uphill road to the state tournament because of their seedings. Sivan Manickam and Jarrett Bungo, and Aneesh Yerramsetti and Nicholas Stamatis finished third and fourth behind both of Westlake's teams at the sectional. The draw did Avon no favors, pairing each team against always-tough Massillon Jackson squads. "It is a special season for us," Kneiss said. "Coach was talking about the sectional finals and how he'll have to be on every court and that's when it hit me. 'Oh, my God, we are all here.' Especially since everyone is very close. It's been a special season for us." The bulk of the area's remaining district qualifiers will compete at the Division I Springside district tournament today and Saturday. Avon Lake is the only other team with multiple district qualifiers — its doubles team of Aidan Weisman and David Ivan finished second at the Solon sectional. St. Edward's Sean Curran, an Avon Lake resident, took fourth at Magnificat. In Division II, Lake Ridge's Oscar de Boer won the Strongsville sectional singles title and will have a No. 1 seed at the Springside district, which begins Friday and concludes Saturday. He's the school's first district qualifier in boys tennis since Ben Gwinell, who was the Division II sectional runner-up at Rocky River in 2018 and advanced to the district quarterfinals. De Boer, a junior foreign exchange student from Germany, is 15-3 with his only losses coming to Westlake, Avon and an injury default to Oberlin's Oliver Knijnenburg — whom he beat just four days later on his way to winning the first singles title of the Lorain County Athletic Administrators Association tournament. In Port Clinton, Vermilion's Severin Kretchmar is trying to make it back to the state tournament for the second straight season, but his path will be harder as he enters as a sectional runner-up instead of a champion this time around. Unlike the others in the Northeast district — who have a back draw safety net if they lose in the quarterfinals — the Northwest only sends four, so Kretchmar will likely have to upset a No. 1 seed in his quarterfinal in order to qualify. Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.