Following a restful Easter break, the Saint Ignatius varsity tennis team continued on its merry way to domination, securing their fourth straight win to start the season.
Mother Nature forced changes to the schedule on Thursday. As a result of snow this morning, the match was pushed inside to a 2:30 pm start at North Ridge Tennis & Golf Center in North Ridgeville.
The Wildcats did not mind the change, rolling to a 5-0 win over the Copley Indians.
The Tennis Cats used a new trio at the singles spots. Head coach Bobbe Bennett called upon Brian Zhu, Drew Barclay, and Kenny Li to rep the Wildcats in singles play.
Zhu took care of business in characteristic fashion. The senior went to work with a clean 6-0 win in the first set before concluding his match with a 6-3 victory in the second set. Barclay followed Zhu's lead, showing no signs of nerves in a 6-0 triumph in set one. His opponent fought hard in the second set, but Barclay clinched it with 6-2 win. Li made his varsity debut with an impressive 6-1, 6-1 win in the third spot. Li showed why he earned a varsity spot as a freshman, displaying flashes of brilliance on his returns.
"I was a little bit nervous walking on, but when I saw the person I was playing, I thought I had a pretty good chance at winning," Li said. "As it moved on, I got less and less tense and got looser as it went on."
While Li won 6-1, 6-1, the freshman was not fully satisfied.
"I felt like I missed a lot of returns, I could have done better on that," Li said. "I try to attack a lot when I'm the return. I did have some unforced errors, but it was okay going out."
The Wildcats' regular doubles teams also performed above par, exhibiting strength and confidence together.
Richie Hofstra and Jack McNally worked well together for a 6-2, 6-0 victory in the No. 1 doubles match. Hofstra showed particular talent today along the backline with hard returns and nice serves, while McNally dominated near the net with unreturnable kill shots.
Jack Showman and Thomas Deucher also did quite well in the second doubles match, capturing a 6-1, 6-1 victory. Showman and Deucher finished out the match with a number of spectacular returns that wowed a small crowd of parents and observers.
With the sweep, the Tennis Cats advance to 4-0 on the season. The squad will face Hawken tomorrow at 4:30 pm at Cleveland State University. The Wildcats will then play again at CSU on Saturday, matching up with the Howland Tigers in the first round of the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association (OTCA) Tournament.
JV Follows Suit: The JV Cats defeated Copley today, too, by a score of 5-0. The Wildcats, led by Coach Nick Siciliano, advanced to 2-0 on the season. The squad will head to Hawken tomorrow for a 4:30 pm road matchup, weather-permitting.
Here are the results of the JV match today:
No. 1 Singles: Jack Burns won 6-4, 6-1
No. 2 Singles: Shay Tanna won 6-0, 6-0
No. 3 Singles: Copley defaults, Varun Ravichandran was going to play that match
No. 1 Doubles: Alex and John Daoud won 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 Doubles: Charlie Cindric and Aristotle Apostolakis won 6-1, 6-0