Rocky River’s Daniel Owens remained undefeated in WSC matches after he won the second singles title last Saturday at Oberlin College. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

River wins WSC crown
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published May 14, 2008

As the age-old saying goes, life guarantees only three things: birth, death and taxes.

Feel free to add Rocky River tennis winning league titles to that list.

The Pirates, who cruised through the West Shore Conference regular season with an 11-0 record, punched the accelerator last Saturday and took four of the five championship matches to win their third straight WSC crown at Oberlin College.

At the end of the day, Rocky River had added a runner up title at second doubles to finish with 34 points. Arch rival Bay, which won that second doubles championship, put up a good fight but finished second with 28 points.

Fairview closed out the day tied with Avon and Midview for third place with 19 points each, while Vermilion (13) and North Ridgeville (8) finished at the back of the pack.

“I’m very pleased,” said veteran River coach Jeff Sinnema, whose team won its fourth straight league championship counting the program’s final season in the Southwestern Conference.

“I thought our guys handled the competition well today,” he said. “We’ve really worked with them this season on not getting too high or too low when things happen out on the court. Today, we got the monkey off our backs because every time we go out and win a match, the target gets bigger.

“Today we took things one point at a time. Afterward, the kids didn’t have any kind of wild celebration. They were very humble and treated it like it was another day at the office. I think that type of mental approach is starting to pay off for them,” Sinnema said.

Bay’s Kyle Outcalt had a strong season for the Rockets but had to settle for third place in the WSC first singles competition.

River freshman James Meyer won the first singles championship by defeating Midview’s Sean Pincura 6-4, 6-2. His two wins on the day allowed Meyer to raise his league record to 13-0 going into Monday’s final regular season match with the Middies.

At second singles, Daniel Owens also moved to 13-0 in WSC matches as he defeated Trevor Kudrna of Bay 6-0, 6-1. Senior Brian Harpster, seeded third going into the tournament, bore down and won the third singles title as he battled Ajit Ramadugu of Avon for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.

That was a big win for the Pirates, according to Sinnema, because Harpster had split his matches with Ramadugu during the regular season and had lost both matches to the tourney’s second seed, Nathan Chasse of Vermilion.

“I think that was the most pleasant surprise of the day,” said Sinnema. “He was our only returning player from last year’s lineup, and he came into the tournament with three losses. It was a tough field at third singles, especially if you consider he beat Chaz Kennedy of Bay twice, and he beat Chasse for third.”

Trevor Kudrna advanced to the WSC second singles title match only to lose to Daniel Owens of Rocky River. (West Life photos by Larry Bennet)

In the No. 1 doubles championship match, the senior Pirate duo of Dan Hamlin and Josh Harkleroad won the title with a tough three-set battle. They beat Midview’s Brad Weaver and Nic Docs 2-6, 6-1 and 7-5 to raise their WSC record to 13-0.

At second doubles, Alex and Jon Plachta dropped their first conference match of the season to finish second. They lost a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 decision to Bay’s Ben Goldsberry and Peter Scanniello in the final championship match of the day.

“That was the big surprise of the day for us. They put a little dent in the armour,” quipped veteran Bay coach Pete Hussey, who coached in his final WSC tournament. He is retiring at the end of the season.

“That wound up being one of the best matches of the day as far as we were concerned,” said Hussey. “It’s a tough situation to be in for a freshman like Scanniello to stay in it against competition like that, but he came through just fine. That was one of the best matches those two  played this season.”

Bay finished the day with four other spots in the top four, including Kundra at second singles.

At first singles, Kyle Outcalt finished in third place with his 6-1, 6-0 win over Parker Riemann of Avon. His record in WSC matches went to 10-5. Kennedy closed out Chasse, 6-3, 6-3, to take third at third singles and move his record to 10-3.

In the first doubles consolation match, Bobby Olson and Cale LaRiccia defeated Fairview’s Mike Baldi and Josh Behm in a hard-fought match 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Fairview’s best finish of the day came at second singles as Dan McKnight rallied to defeat Brett Strauss of Vermilion, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.