The Revere Minutemen boys’ tennis team once again reigned as kings of the Suburban League American Conference tournament, but the Aurora Greenmen inched closer to dethroning them. The Greenmen finished as the runners-up, crowning one champion and scoring 33 points last Friday at Medina Highland High School.
“There was an outside chance we would possibly take over first place but we needed all of the chips to fall in the right places and unfortunately they did not but our guys played strong,” said Coach Vince Cannata, “That was the best finish in the Suburban League that I have had in the four years since I have been coaching.”
In five brackets, Aurora advanced four to the championship round but the Minutemen topped them in three of the four matches to defend their SLAC dynasty.
At first singles, senior Vincent Cannata dominated his bracket, going 3-0 to win his first conference championship. Vincent beat Revere freshmen Deven Gupta 6-1, 6-1 in the first round and cruised to the championship match when he overpowered senior Dean Williams from Copley 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinal match.
Vincent rounded out his day by defeating Medina Highland junior Luke Butcher 6-3, 6-2 to become a conference champion.
“Vincent has really worked on his game this year and had a really solid season,” noted the second-year coach. “In our trip to Florida, he played against some really good Division I and Division III college recruits down there and it prepared him for the season up here and then we will see how sectionals go.”
In second singles, junior Chris Cifani had a strong day by going 2-1 to finish as the runner-up. In the first round, Cifani dispatched Cuyahoga Falls’ senior Owen Belby 6-0, 6-0 and continued rolling in the semifinal match when he defeated freshman Saweyr Sulzener from Medina Highland 6-3, 6-2 to qualify for the championship match.
Cifani’s bid for a conference title ended when Revere junior Sam Lazbin outlasted him, winning 6-1, 7-5.
“Chris was the one player on our team that exceeded the seeding,” Coach Cannata said. “He was seeded third in the tournament and he took second place and he pushed Lazbin. He was up in the second set, and he just ran out of gas after a long day.”
In the third singles bracket, sophomore Connor Emrick rallied to take fifth place by going 2-1. After losing 6-3, 6-3 in the first round against Copley’s Ben McGeown, the Greenmen sophomore needed to battle back in the consolation bracket, with each match being an eight-point pro-set.
Emrick rolled freshman Lyle Witt from Barberton 8-0 and conquered Cuyahoga Falls’ freshman Iris Hite 8-1 in the fifth-place match.
In the first doubles bracket, senior Jonah Shanholtzer and sophomore Kade Morgenroth finished in second place with a 2-1 record. The Greenmen tandem bested Kent Roosevelt’s Adam Khan and Austin Housel 6-0, 6-2 in the first round and defeated the team of Jared Bryan and Keaton Jones from Medina Highland 6-0, 7-5 in the semifinal bout.
“They complement each other very well,” added Coach Cannata. “Certainly in doubles you like to have a consistent person and a power guy and Jonah was more of a power guy and Cade was more of the consistent guy, so they complement each other, their games and personalities really well.”
Shanholtzer and Morgenroth ran into trouble in the championship match, losing 6-2, 6-2 against Revere’s Dan Cjoi and Truman Voris.
The duo of freshman Joel Fletcher and junior Tommy Cogley dazzled in the second doubles bracket, going 2-1 to take second place. The Greenmen duo dominated Vuk Kanarac and Cameron Whitlock from Cuyahoga Falls 6-0, 6-0 in the first round and survived an intense three-set match in the semifinals against Medina Highland’s Ian Schuler and Liam Wright, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 to advance to the championship round.
The Aurora tandem could not overcome Revere’s Anish Chandran and Anant Adury and lost 6-2, 6-1.
“They were really good,” Coach Cannata said. “Tommy had played tennis for two years as a junior varsity player and Joel was a baseball player but he made the switch to tennis and he is really into tennis and as a freshman, he did really well.”
Aurora continued its momentum from the league tournament, sweeping Suburban League rival Stow Munroe-Falls in a crossover dual on Monday.
Following a road match against Hudson on Wednesday, the Greenmen will host Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary on Friday at 4 p.m. and then prepare to compete in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I sectional tournament at the Solon courts, beginning on May 6.
