Bay’s Curtis Lockhart shows his intensity as he returns a backhand shot last Saturday morning in the semifinal round of the West Shore Conference Tennis Tournament at Tri-City Park. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Rockets rule the roost
River run ends as Bay takes WSC tennis crown
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published May 12, 2010

Since the West Shore Conference was formed, the Rocky River tennis program has been the league’s flagship. The Pirates had never lost a regular season league match, and had won every WSC tournament.

As they say, all good things must come to an end.

River’s reign in the WSC ended last week. Bay, which dropped a hard-fought 3-2 decision to River at Tri-City Park earlier in the season, won a 4-1 match early last week to end the Pirates’ 57-match league win streak. Then last weekend, the Rockets got in enough wins before the rains came to clinch the overall championship during the WSC tourney at Tri-City.

“After our first match with them, we knew we could beat them,” said Rocket head coach Dave Peters, who had qualifiers in both championship matches played yesterday.

“We’re very fortunate to have seven very competitive players and a very balanced lineup,” Peters said last Saturday afternoon after rains and gusty winds ended match play for the day. “After the tournament draw Thursday night, I looked at the matchups and felt we had a pretty good shot.”

River head coach Jeff Sinnema was gracious after postponing the championship matches Saturday.

“Disappointed? No,” Sinnema said. “The kids tried their best, and that’s all you can ask. If we win our final match Monday, we’ll finish tied for first at 11-1. Who can complain about that, really?

“Dave has done a nice job with his program. We’ve both been very competitive, it’s just that we had the upper hand the past couple of years,” he said. “They just had the better depth this season. This is their year, their time to shine.”

Bay’s second singles player Pete Scanniello advanced to the consolation finals of the West Shore Conference Tennis Tournament, helping the Rockets gain their first league championship since 1989. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

In yesterday’s singles championship match, Bay’s Curtis Lockhart was scheduled to play River’s James Meyer in their third meeting of the season. Meyer won the first battle, but Lockhart turned the tables in the regular season rematch last week with a 6-1, 6-4 win.

In the doubles championship, the Bay duo of David Johnson and C. J. Farnham was to meet Fairview’s Austin Zavodny and Cole Ziegler. Bay also had qualifiers in the consolation matches, with Pete Scanniello playing for third place in singles and the Rockets’ second doubles team of Dan Johnson and Nate McDonald playing for third as well.

“With Bay having qualifiers in both championship matches, there’s no way we can catch them,” Sinnema said. “They’ll get between 20-24 points, while we’ll only be able to get 13-16 points. Fairview can’t catch us, but they should score 10-13 points to take third.”

Prior to the second River match, Peters switched-up his doubles team by splitting up the Johnson twins. The squad’s overall depth proved to be a factor as well.

Lockhart came on strong later in the season after bouncing back from an injury during the off season, according to Peters. Team depth played a factor as well against River when Harrison Brill subbed for McDonald at second doubles.

In the regular season match, Scanniello defeated Spencer Datko, 6-2, 6-3 at second singles. River countered with a win at third singles when Scott Saunders bested Jackson Heller, 7-6, 6-2. But the two Bay doubles teams prevailed to give the Rockets their big win.

At first doubles, Dave Johnson and Farnham came away with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 decision over Grant Bodell and Matt Siwkiewicz. Don Johnson and Brill capped off the win with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Joe Kelly and Greg Plachta.

That win, along with their performance over the weekend, was enough to give Bay its first tennis championship since winning the Southwestern Conference crown back in the spring of 1989.

“It really helped when Scanniello got a seed,” Peters said. “He was our second singles player, but he was also one of the strongest singles players in the league this year. I liked the chances of both of our doubles teams the way they were playing heading into the tournament.

“Everything played out to form on Friday,” he said.

With Meyer coming back next season, River will have a chance to regain the title next spring. But Sinnema said that may be tougher than some people think.

“Bay’s going to have to replenish their lineup, but we will too,” Sinnema said. “It’s a cyclical thing, and a lot depends on how the kids work in the off season. A lot of them play other sports as well, so that plays into it too.

“But you look at Fairview, and they have a lot of young players who will be returning next year,” he said. “That freshman at Vermilion is tough too, so I think the parity in this league will be unbelievable.”

But for the time being, Peters and his squad want to enjoy the here and now.

“We have a very close-knit conference with a lot of good, friendly relationships throughout,” Peters said. “There has been a lot of gratitude and support among the teams in the league. To be the champions of this conference is great for everyone involved in the program here at Bay.”