Boys tennis: Avon Lake edges Vermilion to win second LCAAA title in the last three years

AVON — Every point always matters, but that was especially true Saturday. Avon Lake and Vermilion went back-and-forth at the Lorain County Athletic Administrators Association boys tennis tournament, facing off in three finals and a semifinal. In the end, the Shoremen narrowly held off the Sailors 47-45 in claiming the championship for the second time in three years. "We came in excepting to dominate," said Avon Lake junior Carter Athey, who teamed up with his twin brother, Brody, to win the first doubles title. "Our team did really well today. It feels really good." Four of the five finals went to three sets, with the exception of the Athey twins' dominance. The top-seeded duo, who dropped just six games in their six tournament sets, defeated Avon's Grant Nagy and Alex Belser 6-1, 6-3 in the final, the only set they lost more than one game. "It's amazing," Brody Athey said. "We got to beat Avon, so that's pretty good. It's just an amazing feeling to go out there and win as a team. It's a testament to how deep our team is and how good everyone is on our team and how committed they are to playing." Both schools brought home two titles while Avon — which sent its Varsity B team for the third straight season — won the second doubles title when Sam Principe and Carter Free upset top-seeded Bryce Baughman and Spencer Sexstella of Avon Lake, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. Avon Lake has won the LCAAA each of the last two times it sent its varsity squad. Last year its Varsity B team tied for third. The match that proved to be the difference was second singles. Both of its doubles teams lost in the semifinals, so Vermilion needed to sweep all three singles finals and for both of its doubles teams to take third. Four of those five things happened, but Ryan Suh helped Avon Lake hold off the Sailors by rallying for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win against Anthony Ozmun. "The first set was really close," Suh said. "It was more me making silly mistakes. My coach is a really great coach, he told me what I needed to do, just keep playing my shots and make them consistently. Just keep outrallying him, that's what I did and it got the job done." Both of the Sailors championships came in singles, including at first singles which featured the tournament's top two players — Vermilion's Severin Kretchmar and Avon Lake's Marc Grozav. Each of the last two times they've met went three sets. Grozav won in the 2023 LCAAA semifinals on his way to the first singles championship and Kretchmar won in during the regular season last year, though the third set was a match breaker. This time was no different as Grozav took the first set 6-4 after he rallied from 0-40, then broke Kretchmar after the Vermilion senior forced deuce after being down three break points on his serve. But Grozav converted on his fifth chance to close out the set on the 18th point of the final game. Things went sideways in the second set as neither player could hold serve for the first five games. Kretchmar ultimately broke Grozav on all four service games, taking advantage of six double faults during a 6-2 win. It looked as if Kretchmar was going to take control of the third set up a break at 3-1, but Grozav secured a much-needed hold and then Kretchmar committed three double faults to put things back on serve at 3-3. Grozav won a 10-point game, then broke Kretchmar to serve for the match up 5-3. Kretchmar broke back, then went down 0-30 on his serve. He had to win three points to even the score when what would have been a surefire volley winner was negated by a let call when a ball from the doubles match on the next court interrupted play, forcing a replay. He dug deep for a pair of big first serves to even the match at five, then won eight of the next 10 points to close out the title — his first LCAAA championship after finishing runner up last year, third in 2023 and fifth in 2022. "Toward the end, I had to really want it," said Kretchmar, who improved to 8-0 on the season and became the school's all-time singles wins leader Monday. "I just put all my focus into keeping the ball in play. Moving the ball back and forth. It feels really good, honestly, because me and my dad talked about how this is really the only thing that I really haven't succeeded in. I really wanted this because he won it back in the day. This was the only thing I haven't done that he has done." Vermilion senior Terrence Anders also had to rally for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Avon Lake's Caleb Johnson to bring home the third singles title. After going down 5-1 in the first, Anders won six of the next eight games to take the second set 6-1, including three breaks. Johnson went up a break at 3-2 in the third, but Anders responded by winning the next three games and gave himself a match point up 5-4. Johnson won the next three points to stay alive, but Anders broke for the win next game. "I was sitting around for like three hours, so that might have been part of it," Anders said. "I just had to totally forget about the first set and just say let's go, it's go time. This is a very special group of guys. We all started when we were younger and didn't have much success. Now we have six out of seven seniors. We're really close as a team on and off the court. We really wanted to get it done today, but for every player to get a medal really means a lot and really shows what Vermilion tennis has been able to do." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. TEAM SCORES: 1. Avon Lake 47, 2. Vermilion 45, 3. Avon 36, 4. Amherst 34, T-5. Lake Ridge 24, T-5. North Ridgeville 24, 7. Elyria Catholic 23, 8. Midview 22, 9. Elyria 13, 10. Oberlin 7. FIRST SINGLES: Championship — Severin Kretchmar (Vermilion) def. Marc Grozav (Avon Lake), 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Third place — Nick Hubbard (Midview) def. Joshua Tomlin (Amherst), 6-0, 6-0. Fifth place — Owen Bago (North Ridgeville) def. Ty Zigon (Elyria), 4-0, 4-3. Seventh place — Caleb Free (Avon) def. Lilly Knijnenburg (Oberlin), 4-1, 4-2. Remaining placers — 9. Eric Shin (Lake Ridge), 10. Ethan Smerglia (Elyria Catholic). SECOND SINGLES: Championship — Ryan Suh (Avon Lake) def. Anthony Ozmun (Vermilion), 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Third place — Marco Sison (Lake Ridge) def. Alvin Zheng (North Ridgeville), 6-2, 6-3. Fifth place — Garet Bott (Amherst) def. Noah Grakauskas (Avon), 4-0, 4-1. Seventh place — Colm McGrath (Elyria Catholic) def. Lila Booth (Midview), 4-2, 4-1. Remaining placers — 9. Andrew Nagy (Elyria), 10. Daylon Mason (Oberlin). THIRD SINGLES: Championship — Terrence Anders (Vermilion) def. Caleb Johnson (Avon Lake), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. Third place — Jaxen Springer (Avon) def. Tim Sooy (Amherst), 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Fifth place — James Drumm (Elyria Catholic) def. James Bereczky (North Ridgeville), 3-4, 4-2, (12-10). Seventh place — Evan Kneisal (Midview) def. Andrew Peacock (Elyria), 4-1, 4-0. Remaining placers — 9. Jack Gibel (Lake Ridge). FIRST DOUBLES: Championship — Carter Athey-Brody Athey (Avon Lake) def. Grant Nagy-Alex Belser (Avon), 6-1, 6-3. Third place — Stephan Tang-Timothy Anders (Vermilion) def. Lucas Young-Tony Davis (Amherst), 6-4, 6-4. Fifth place — Mark Boehm-Jacob Bright (Elyria Catholic) def. Jeffrey Ma-Riley Kolbay (Lake Ridge), 4-2, 4-2. Seventh place — Daylen Byers-Ethan Stanulet (North Ridgeville) def. Ryan Quinn-Brett Sanzone (Midview). 0-4, 4-3, (10-5). Remaining placers — 9. Davis Hawke-Kyle Swart (Elyria). SECOND DOUBLES: Championship — Sam Principe-Carter Free (Avon) def. Bryce Baughman-Spencer Sexstella (Avon Lake), 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. Third place — Zane Lassen-Noah Gimben (Vermilion) def. Carter Crawford-Ethan Staveski (Amherst), 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1. Fifth place — Andrew Shebak-Grant Szczepanski (Elyria Catholic) def. Trenton Popek-Gavin Tribby (Midview), 4-1, 4-0. Seventh place — Jack Thompson-Thomas Reed (Lake Ridge) def. Alex Malloy-Reuben Sarrett (North Ridgeville), 4-1, 4-1. Remaining placers — 9. Brandon Sanabria-Marissa Peacock (Elyria).