Storylines and players to know for the OHSAA boys tennis state tournament

Final draws for the Ohio High School Athletic Association boys tennis state tournament are decided and many Greater Cincinnati athletes have eyes on winning a state championship.

The OHSAA state tournament kicks off on Thursday, May 23, and concludes the next day at the College of Wooster & Aspen Racquet Club. There, competitors from Indian Hill, Seven Hills, Springboro, St. Xavier and Sycamore will compete for singles or doubles titles across two divisions.

Carson Dwyer aims for second straight title for St. Xavier

A year removed from winning a doubles state championship as a freshman, St. Xavier sophomore Carson Dwyer's jump to singles has seen him claim a sectional championship and a district title to qualify for state.

In the district tournament at Mason Middle School, Dwyer cruised through his first two matches and dropped just a single set. His first test came in the semifinals with Sycamore senior Nick Meyers. Meyers claimed the first set, 4-6, before Dwyer rattled off two 6-3 wins to win the match.

Dwyer also dropped the first set of the district finals to Springboro's Rishi Dore. After falling behind 4-6, Dwyer clinched the title by winning the final two sets 6-0, 6-3. In the third-place match, Meyers defeated teammate Dhruv Kota 6-2, 6-2.

Sycamore's double-barrel doubles

On the doubles side of the Division I district meet, a pair of Sycamore groups went head-to-head in the tournament finals. Senior Nicholas Choo and freshman partner Chase Klugo mounted a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback victory in the district finals against teammates Andrew Wittenbaum and Arjun Rajagopala.

In the previous sectional round, Wittenbaum and Rajagopala finished first while Choo and Klugo finished fourth.

Meeting in the third-place match and qualifying for state were St. Xavier's Chase Homan and Nihal Narisetty, who topped Springboro's Drew Baumgartner and Peyton Nelson 6-2, 6-1. Homan and Narisetty will attempt to win St. Xavier's second straight state doubles championship.

Mahajan, Pollock's final chance at first

In last year's Division II singles state tournament, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan and Indian Hill's Jack Pollock met in the state semifinals with Mahajan getting a 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 victory. Mahajan fell in the finals while Pollock finished fourth in the state after dropping the third-place match.

Fast forward to this postseason and the two have already met twice, splitting the series. Pollock took home the sectional championship 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 before Mahajan got one back in the district championship, 7-6 (5), 6-4. If the two meet again, it would come in the Division II state championship match.

Both seniors, Pollock is a three-time state qualifier and Mahajan is a four-time qualifier. Pollock's finish last season was his first time placing while Mahajan has finished as a runner-up and a third-place finisher in his stops.

Mahajan's sophomore teammate Adi Mayak also qualified for state with a third-place finish in the district bracket.

Indian Hill brings two, Seven Hills joins doubles qualifiers

In the 2023 OHSAA Division II doubles tournament, no local players placed in the tournament's top four. Three pairs of locals will try and get back on the podium for 2024.

Indian Hill claimed the 2022 doubles title with a pairing that included then-sophomore R.J. Poffenberger. Now a senior, Poffenberger has qualified for state for the fourth time (third in doubles) after scoring a sectional and district title with partner Neelan Gandhi. That pair won the district title 6-3, 6-2 against Gavin Isakov and Chinmay Machavaran from Seven Hills.

Poffenberger and Gandhi defeated Oakwood's returning state runner-up pair of Arick Baldwin and Noah Boyce in the semifinals. Baldwin and Boyce managed a 7-6 (4), 6-0 victory in the third-place match against Michael Ryu and Eshaan Gandhi, Indian Hill's other state-qualifying pair.

In the opening round of the state tournament, Ryu and Gandhi will meet the district champions from Pepper Pike Orange, including senior Gabi Kalir, who was one-half of the state championship pair last season.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Storylines and players to know for the OHSAA boys tennis state tournament