A few of Gavin Cheung’s most powerful serves during the Division I district boys tennis tournament May 20 ended up not counting, but they were a display of the energy that led him to his first state appearance as a singles player.
In the last of eight state-qualifying matches to conclude, the Olentangy senior used an array of short- and long-range shots to edge Olentangy Orange junior Luke Rutherford 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 at Olympic Indoor Tennis.
“I kind of feel like it was more [about] how much stamina I had,” said Cheung, who qualified for state in doubles in 2024. “I just did not feel tired at all. I was really hyped and I knew it would end up working if I maintained my stamina.
“I just maintained my composure. There were a lot of changes in momentum and I had to try not to be affected by that.”
The top four finishers in singles and doubles qualified for state May 28 and 29 at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.
District semifinals and finals will be May 23 at Upper Arlington.
Central Ohio’s other qualifying singles players were Olentangy Liberty senior Shane Hand, UA junior Owen Hawley and Olentangy freshman Aarush Andey – who defeated Cheung 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in the Gahanna sectional final May 18.
Hand, a Butler signee, reached state for the third year in a row and is the only one of the four to have previously played singles on the season’s final weekend. He qualified with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Dublin Coffman junior Tomoya Akiyama.
Andey edged Pickerington Central sophomore Austin Bruey 6-4, 6-4. Hawley, who reached state in doubles last year, swept Jerome’s Rudy Anumula 6-0, 6-4.
“This was a real battle,” Hawley said. “Rudy is a great player. We’ve played multiple times. … I got off to a good start and I pulled it out.
“This has always been the dream to go in singles. Freshman year, I tried and it didn’t happen. Now it is a dream come true to make state in singles, but it’s the same goal, just go try and win.”
The tournament was moved indoors from UA because of heavy rains the evening of May 19 into the morning of May 20.
That came after district had originally been postponed a day because rain over the weekend pushed the conclusion of most sectional tournaments to May 18.
Both Olentangy Orange doubles teams reach state
Orange is sending both of its doubles pairings to state in senior twins Devan and Shailen Patel and senior Nikhil Bhimireddy and sophomore Sid Sharma.
Shailen Patel, who is 2 minutes older than Devan, reached state in doubles last year with Rutherford. Devan Patel had never advanced beyond district.
They qualified with a 6-3, 6-1 sweep of New Albany senior Jackson Goodman and junior Noah Kleinman.
“We found our level during that match, especially me,” Devan Patel said. “I started the match pretty tight and as it went on, Shailen and I really jelled together. We finally found the connection we knew we had.”
Bhimireddy and Sharma earned their first state berths with a 5-7, 6-3, 4-3 (retired) win over Jerome junior Aarush Gupta and sophomore Austin Xiao.
New Albany senior Tyler Thomas reached his fourth state tournament and third in doubles, teaming with freshman Brady Kattan for a 6-3, 6-3 quarterfinal win over Liberty junior Eli Englert and sophomore Ryan Hand.
Two more first-time state qualifiers, UA senior WK Abouhassan and junior Charlie Freiburger, earned the other state berth with a 6-3, 6-2 over Watkins Memorial senior Graham Smith and freshman Matthew Reid.
Division II district play postponed
The Division II district tournament at Columbus Academy was postponed to May 21 even before Division I was moved indoors.
The district champion and runner-up in both singles and doubles will qualify for state.
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Olentangy boys tennis players lead central Ohio to state in Division I
Reporting by Dave Purpura, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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