Central Christian charges to NET boys tennis title
After falling a half-point short a year ago, coach Gene Lehman, left, and the Central Christian boys tennis team took home the hardware this season as the Northeast Tennis Conference champions.
Half a point. That slim margin, which was all that separated the Central Christian boys tennis team from the Northeast Tennis Conference Tournament Championship a year ago, was all the Comets could think about.
Central was able to erase that bitter memory earlier this month as it captured the NET Championship for the program’s second overall title in a row in the current format that combines both the regular season and league tournaments with a point system.
More importantly, it gave them the exclamation point to the season after just missing the tournament trophy in 2023.
“We missed winning the tournament by a very small margin last year, so that has been our goal from day one,” said longtime Comets coach Gene Lehman, whose team lost by 0.5 to Canton McKinley in the tournament last season. “It is great to see that come to fruition. Winning by just two points (in the tourney) means we needed the efforts of everyone on the team.
“The boys took it upon themselves to set this as a goal without the coaches setting it for them. We had a number of players back from last year that wanted this to happen.”
Thanks to a 10-0 regular-season record in dual matches, combined with winning the conference tourney on May 3 by two points over area rival Orrville, Central Christian compiled 128 total points to beat out Canton McKinley (118) and the Red Riders (116) for the overall crown. Hiland was fifth with 76 while Triway was eighth with 50.
Like it had been all spring, it was a team effort in the league tourney for the Comets. And they needed every single player as it edged Orrville 54-52 in a heated team race that saw McKinley finish with 50 points.
With one individual win and two runner-up finishes, the team capped off the league title in a big way. Drew Badertscher won the second singles crown, beating McKinley’s Asher Diuk in the final 8-3, while Central was second on both doubles courts with the teams of Adrian Lehman and Josiah Bixler and Ezra Coleman and Aaron Lehman.
Junior Aaron Miedel, a district qualifier last season, was third in a loaded first singles bracket.
“I can’t overemphasize the team spirit and camaraderie that these boys had this year,” said coach Lehman, who also credited the support of the players’ families to the team’s success. “From the first-year players to the veterans, they all enjoyed themselves and were always looking for ways, even outside of practice, to hit with someone on our courts.
“I think a lot can be said for the younger players looking at the hard work the older, more experienced players put in and wanted to emulate that.”
The Red Riders made a run at the NET tournament title with a strong final day, winning two courts and picking up a third-place finish. Matthew Anderson was league champ at third singles, beating Michael Feller of Marlington 8-4, and the doubles pairing of Carter Orosz and Peyton Casto were an 8-6 winner over Central’s tandem of Coleman and Lehman.
The Riders’ Max Casto won the third overall at second singles.
Speaking of singles play, the top court was as close as it could get as Triway’s Paul Self battled his way through the bracket with a win over Canton South’s Blayten Young before upsetting Miedel in the semifinals. Self would go on to finish runner-up after an 8-3 setback to McKinley’s Elijah Corrin.
Hiland’s top finish was at second doubles with the duo of Sam Anderson and Ryan Yoder placing third.