Tennis Division I Sectional
West advances two to district
After winning 3 matches each, singles players Lippert and Broda take aim at sectional tennis titles.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
SHARONVILLE — It was business as usual for Lakota West High junior Wyatt Lippert at the Division I sectional tennis tournament.
But for teammate Taylor Broda, it was sweet redemption.
Extras
Lippert and Broda — the top two singles seeds — each won three matches Tuesday,
May 13, at Princeton High School to qualify for next week's district tournament.
The sectional semifinals and finals begin at 1 p.m. today, May 15, at Princeton to determine district seeding.
"It feels great," said Broda, a senior who advanced to districts as a freshman. "I've been trying to get there the last two years and was unable to, and now my senior year I get another shot at it. I'm looking forward to it."
Broda defeated Sycamore's Adam Reinhart 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals, while Lippert — who's finished third at state the last two years — did not lose a game all day.
"Sometimes the most difficult thing in sports is to be the favorite," West coach Mike
Mueller said. "As the one and two seeds, Wyatt and Taylor both had those big targets on their back and everybody was shooting for them. Both did an outstanding job today in playing up to their potential and staying focused on their games."
West seniors Chris Arozarena and Mike Girardot won their first match over Ross' Tyler Russell and Nick Banks 6-0,
6-0 before losing to No. 2 seed Bobby Eberhard and Sameam Shahrestani of Mason 6-2, 6-2.
Lakota East senior Robert Pitman reached the quarterfinals by defeating Milford's Nolan Salazar 6-1, 6-1 and Loveland's Chase Giles 6-0,
6-1. However, Mason's Chris Hall, the third seed, beat Pitman 7-5, 6-4.
Sophomore Matt Witzman and freshman Akash Umakantha beat Kings' Dan Brown and Mike Klemt 6-2, 6-0, but then lost to eventual district qualifiers Chris and Austin Stahl of Loveland 6-3, 6-1.
Senior Chris Riddick and sophomore Vinny Vutai were victorious over Hamilton's Jeff Behrens and Robert Lowery
7-5, 6-4. They then fell to No. 3 seed Eric Stoltz and Kalyaan Rao of Sycamore 6-0, 6-0.
"Robert played very well," East coach Greg Mahlerwein said, "but came a tad short of moving on to districts. Both my doubles teams won their first-round matches, which is good. Akash and Matt played fantastic tennis."
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5113 or smatthews@coxohio.com.
