Boys tennis: Tough matches await locals in district tournaments

There's an old saying in baseball: The ball always finds you. A version of that could be applied to this year's district tennis tournaments with tough rematches a possibility for all three area singles players. One will definitely take place while the other two are likely to occur in the quarterfinals. Avon Lake's Marc Grozav starts his Division I Northeast district run with a familiar Southwestern Conference opponent he has yet to beat: Avon's A.J. Sidoti. If Sidoti continues his success against Grozav, he'll likely have to get past Solon's Zach Krantz in the quarterfinals. Krantz has had Sidoti's number throughout his career. In the Division II Northwest district, Vermilion's Severin Kretchmar received a similar draw to Sidoti, landing in a quadrant with the player who handed him his first loss of the season. Krantz has won the last three completed matchups with Sidoti dating back to 2023. This year, the Solon senior retired in their regular-season match after winning the first set, but Sidoti led the second 5-4. They also were supposed to meet for third place at the St. Edward Invitational, but Krantz won in a walkover after Sidoti withdrew. If Sidoti advances to Saturday's semifinals, another rematch could be awaiting him in Revere sophomore Finn Keenan, the Springside sectional champion, who defeated Sidoti in a grueling three-set semifinal at last year's district tournament. "Everyone is going to be nervous, you just have to take that pressure and control it," said Sidoti, who is 24-2 this season and has 106 career wins, three shy of the school record set by his former teammate Luke LeMaster. "You have to know what you need to do before the match and do what you need to do during it, too. It's not like you're the only one nervous out there, you just have to hide it better than everyone else." St. Edward's Sean Curran, an Avon Lake resident, will also be competing in the Division I Northeast tournament but in doubles with Zoard Vasarhelyi. All three will begin their quest for a state tournament bid at the Springside Athletic Club on Thursday at 9 a.m. The semifinals, back draw and placement matches will be held Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Curran enters with a 15-6 record but most of his regular-season matches came at first singles. Grozav takes an 11-9 record into his opening-round match. The advantage of playing in the Northeast in Division I is that six singles players and six doubles teams qualify to the state tournament, so anyone who wins their opening-round match has two chances to qualify. Kretchmar won't have that safety net, however, because the Division II Northwest district only sends the top four to state. Kretchmar will likely have to defeat Bryan's top singles player, Landon Bassett, the Bryan sectional champion and returning state qualifier, in a go-to quarterfinal, assuming they both win their opening-round matches. Bassett handed Kretchmar his first loss of the season in the Division II state team tournament. The Vermilion senior's opening-round match is against Willard's Levi Schag, who he's beaten twice this season. The Northwest district begins at Port Clinton with the first two rounds Wednesday at 9 a.m. The semifinals and placement matches will be held Saturday at 9 a.m. Kretchmar is 28-2, tying his school record for singles wins in a season, and has 97 career wins. It's the third straight season Kretchmar has won at least 27 matches, giving him the three best single seasons in school history. He's a three-time district qualifier seeking his second state tournament appearance, last qualifying as district runner-up in 2023. "After the sectional is over and now that I see the draw, it's definitely not going to be easy," Kretchmar said. "I just have to go into it and be mentally prepared. A lot of things led up to that sectional final where nothing went right for me, even in the days prior. Just toward the end of the season nothing was going right. Now, after losing that match, I picked up the missing pieces and I'm definitely bringing it back. I'm working as hard as possible to get prepared mentally." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.