Tennis Home -
Updated with September 2 Matches
September 3, 2010: There were numerous close matches last night. They included: Briggs over Marion-Franklin (included three three setters); Westerville Central over Davidson; Reynoldsburg over Dublin Scioto; Westerville South over Watkins Memorial; and Lancaster over Athens.
There was just one match involving players on my top list. It was Watterson's Lauren Ghidotti over Coffman's Ash Thenappan.
Westerville Central gave me their picture and they are today's free, full-access school.
September 2, 2010: Last night's tightly contested matches included: Upper Arlington beating Dublin Jerome; New Albany defeating Dublin Coffman; and Columbus School for Girls beating Bexley.
In the My List of Top Players matches, UA's Niki Flower beat Jerome's Lauren Bellinger.
In my never-ending search for membership sign-ups, I've got another idea. Clearly those of you who have signed-up perceive some value in having this website around for this year and possibly even next year. So... I need your help to get more sign-ups. For those members who get Gerber Analytics, LLC five paying sign-ups by the end of girls season, you get a free Gerber Analytics t-shirt. What does the shirt look like? I really have no idea. Even though I have no graphics ability (after all this is a gray and black website), this t-shirt will look reasonably nice because I'll want to wear it in public, too. To get credit for the membership, just have the person enter his/her name in the new, "Who talked you into signing up?" box in the sign-up form. It's really that easy. Send me a Feedback if you have any questions. If you are thinking about getting your membership first, so that you can talk others into joining, then I like how you think. Just click here to go to sign-up.
Please keep those pictures coming. Upper Arlington submitted their picture yesterday and they are today's free, full-access school.
September 1, 2010: There were over 20 matches last night. Two of the closer matches were Lancaster over Reynoldsburg and Kilbourne over Davidson.
DeSales' My Linh Li won a close match against Hartley's Rachael Morales.
Last night did not have many marquee line-ups. Tonight will be different. Dublin Jerome plays Upper Arlington and Dublin Coffman plays New Albany.
Today's free, full-access school is Dublin Jerome.
August 31, 2010: West and Whetstone helped their standings in yesterday's poll by defeating Centennial and Briggs, respectively.
In individual play, DeSales' My Linh Li beat West Holmes' Rachael Nelson and Orange's Anna Sanford beat Liberty's Sydney Power.
Today's free, full-access school is Whetstone.
August 30, 2010: The first poll of the girls season is posted. [It was "Which school will win the City League this year?". Whetstone won 50% of the vote. West received 40% and Briggs 10%.]
Some tennis fans follow both the girls and boys of each school. To make it a bit easier to move from one to the other, a new link has been added to the girls and boys pages. For an example, click here.
I made a few changes to My Top List. As you may recall from earlier lists, I do not immediately place the younger players above the upperclassmen after a big win. There is plenty of time to fine-tune this list prior to the Sectional draws so my changes will be gradual. Please be aware that if I am aware of an injury situation, that is also considered. I'll be adding more players to the Watch List within another week or two. The Doubles list will take a bit longer.
Most of the pictures that I have included are ones that I have taken. Parents, please help me out and send me a picture of the team. Just send me a note in feedback if you have a picture.
I plan to make available full access to one team each day to encourage users to sign-up for a membership. Today's team is Watterson.
August 29, 2010: The tennis matched the weather yesterday - both were great. There were numerous invitationals and two big matches involving Lexington. Both Dublin Jerome and Upper Arlington beat Lexington, winning 5-0 and 4-1, respectively. The Jerome / UA match is going to be very interesting.
In individual match-ups, Lexington's Earnest got beat by both UA's Niki Flower and Jerome's Lauren Bellinger. Other big match-ups included: Lauren Thai beat Meghan Buell, Maddie Morton, and Ash Thenappan; Ashley Thai beat Katie Shepherd; Rachael Morales beat Anna Sanford; Maddie Morton beat Lauren Ghidotti; and Lauren Ghidotti beat Ash Thenappan.
The Watterson Invitational took place at the Park of Roses. Bradley edged out New Albany to win the event. There are two new pictures online: Hilliard Bradley and Bexley. Also note that the results for all of the Watterson Invitational matches are online.
August 28, 2010: It was very slow tennis day with just two matches - Worthington Christian beat Wellington and Chillicothe beat UA-B (from Thursday).
I'll be at the Watterson tournament today. If you would like an updated online picture of your team, please let me know.
August 27, 2010: In dual matches, Dublin Scioto narrowly beat Big Walnut, 3-2, with two three-setters.
Individual matches included: Orange's Anna Sanford beat Jerome's Lauren Bellinger and Watterson's Katie Shepherd defeated Kilbourne's Claire Metka,
The paywall will launch during the lunch hour. For those who have memberships, it is suggested that you Login when you first arrive at the website for the best user experience. For those without a membership, you will still be able to obtain a sizable amount of information, but not all of the results of which you are accustomed.
Please also be aware that there is a group plan available where your team gets ten 6x8 team pictures and five memberships for $79.95. This will also be the online picture that appears for your team. For more information, please go to the sign-up area.
Also effective today, the team reports for the boys will no longer be behind the paywall.
Please feel free to leave a feedback message if you have any questions.
August 25, 2010: Close dual matches included: Wellington over Hartley, Groveport over Grove City, and Lancaster beating Gahanna..
In individual match-ups, Bradley's Lauren Thai defeated DeSales' My Linh Li in a three-setter, Westerville North's Abigail Lewis beat Westerville Central's Taylor Todd in a three-setter, Jerome's Lauren Bellinger beat Liberty's Sydney Power, UA's Niki Flower beat Kilbourne's Kristin Cellentani, and UA's Elaine Cloern beat Kilbourne's Claire Metka.
The paywall will go up on Thursday around lunch time. A membership to Gerber Analytics, LLC's tennis data would make a great Valentine's Day gift for that truly special someone.
August 24, 2010: Tennis for the City League Schools is now underway with Marion-Franklin, West, Eastmoor, and Whetstone winning last night. Liberty also beat Davidson in a tightly contested match.
Individual match-ups of the area's top players included Bexley's Maddie Morton defeating Coffman's Ash Thenappan, Meghan Buell beating Chillicothe's Georgia Bennett, and Liberty's Sydney Power beating Davidson's Mackenzie Donalson.
Interesting match-ups for tonight include: Davidson vs. Thomas Worthington, UA vs. Kilbourne, Liberty vs. Jerome, Pickerington Central vs. Pickerington North, and Westerville Central vs. Westerville North.
Even though it is already noted, please always confirm the match time and location with a player or coach before you travel to one of the scheduled matches. This data is subject to change and / or it could simply be listed incorrectly. ThisWeek News and the coaches are the main sources for this information. For example, I noticed that Kilbourne was slated to play in the Watterson Invitational on Wednesday, which was clearly a mistake. (Kilbourne will play a home match against Watterson on Wednesday.) Again, please always check.
August 23, 2010: With over 20 matches [should have said "teams" rather than "matches"] scheduled for tonight, the season is now up to full speed. This will be the first evening that all of the City League Schools will be playing.
Most of the schedules are online. There was a hick-up with the City League School's tennis schedules that I am trying to get resolved so they will be added as soon as possible.
Pictures for some of the teams participating in the Columbus School for Girls - Davis Cup Invitational are available via these links: Bishop Hartley, Bishop Watterson (Varsity A), Bishop Watterson (Varsity B), Columbus School for Girls, and Pickerington Central. Coaches, please send me an email with the names if you would like the names to be included. If your school is participating in the Bishop Watterson Invitational this coming weekend, I would be happy to take your team's picture at this event.
I wanted to give more teams the opportunity to play before setting up the paywall. I'll get to it this week. Thank you to those who have already signed-up.
August 21, 2010: The number of matches are starting to pick up speed. Please note that I also included a few matches from Thursday that had been unreported in the newspaper.
Among the top players, Toledo Central Catholic's Delp defeated Buell yesterday.
Most of the kick-off news articles are now online from ThisWeek News. Later today (especially if we get rained out), I should have the schedules online.
Note that I normally have my camera with me so if you see me at a match and want me to get a picture that I can place online, please let me know.
August 20, 2010: I wanted to get the results out from last night but I will be tweaking the site most of the day. The big match from last night was Lauren Thai beating Meghan Buell in a three setter.
At some point today, I will release My List of Central Ohio's Top Players for this season. If this is your first exposure to this list, please be aware that I use a combination of USTA head-to-head results and TennisRecruiting.net rankings to determine the first edition. After the high school season kicks into gear, I only use high school results. This makes sense from two perspectives: it is high school season and some players perform better in the team environment where they benefit from coaching and the camaraderie of their teammates.
All losses and any "wins" that I consider to be major will be listed. Note that I also care about the scores of the wins and losses. My list may differ from yours but the key is that we should both be looking at the same information. There will always be situations where pesky players purposely try to ruin my list. This occurs when Player A beats Player B who beats Player C who beats Player A.
Players can remain the Watch List for the entire season, especially if they don't receive quality matches. Also be aware that I am maintaining a watch list for the Watch List.
If a Top List or Watch List player is primarily playing doubles, she will eventually be moved to the Doubles List.
My goal is to get players within three or four spots of where they really should be.
Coaches, if I'm missing someone, please let me know.
August 19, 2010: Both New Albany and Pickerington Central were beaten by Hudson yesterday by the same 3-2 score. Worthington Kilbourne beat Chillicothe in a close match. Columbus Academy was defeated in two close matches by two Cincinnati teams.
Hudson's Bastock defeated both New Albany's Buell and Pickerington Central's Raya. Both matches were three setters.
The big switch to 2010 occurs tomorrow. The "paywall" (where users must become a member to Gerber Analytics, LLC to view all matches) will likely occur tomorrow afternoon. For more information about becoming a member, please click here to go to the sign-up area.
August 18, 2010: The good matches have started. Watterson beat Hilliard Bradley, 3-2, but Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai and Ashley Thai both won their matches versus Shepherd and Brown, respectively. New Albany beat Pickerington Central with New Albany's Buell beating Raya.
The new My List of Central Ohio's Top Players will be released on Friday.
August 17, 2010: The season is starting to roll. There were six matches yesterday. Ottawa Hills looks like a contender by beating Columbus Academy, 3-2.
Note that I will be removing the 2009 season data as I roll in 2010. I will continue to include the 2009 data for about three or four days because it provides a smoother transition into the 2010 season. Just ignore the team won / lost records.
Also note that I will be substantially reducing the number of players in My List of Central Ohio's Top Players. (This is the list from last season). I'll focus on the Top List first (with ~20 players), then the Watch List. The doubles players will be slowly added later. This is the approach that I used with the boys.
Just a couple of season-preview news articles have been posted by ThisWeek Community Newspapers. These are great articles, and as they become available, I will link to them. I do not know all of the writers so please make sure that they are aware that they will receive free memberships to Gerber Analytics to assist them with their articles. I want to make it as easy as possible for them to gather information about our players.
Thanks to the coaches who have sent their schedules to me. This data will be entered over the next couple of days.
August 11, 2010: We have several Central Ohio players in the USTA National Championships. These are highly prestigious events. The boys event is held in Kalamazoo, Michigan and the girls in San Diego, California. Competing in the boys event is Chris Diaz and the girls event includes Niki Flower and Meghan Buell. Congratulations to these players.
August 9, 2010: Welcome to the girls tennis season. The membership sign-up process is now "live" and you may go ahead and join if you wish. If you have any questions, please send me a feedback message by clicking here. There are discounts available so please make sure that you read the "frequently asked questions". To proceed to the sign-up area, please click here.
July 23, 2010: Please read this first. I am testing the process that will permit me to charge users $15 for this tennis site for the girls season. Please be aware that there will be a substantial amount of information that will remain "free" including the top players list, the college list, and the two most recent matches on the team report. For the non-member version of Reynoldsburg, please click here. To see how the member version of St. Charles would look, click here.
If you are interested in obtaining full season results from the most recent boys season, please click here, or click on the button on the right navigation bar to go to the new sign-up process. This area will also provide you with the complete plans for the upcoming girls season.
As a benefit to the indoor clubs that become sponsors, I will give their customers a $5 membership discount. I will be approaching the indoor club managers in the next few days to determine their interest in sponsoring this web site. Thanks to Olympic Indoor Tennis for agreeing to be a sponsor for the 2010 girls season.
If you have any questions or comments, please enter a feedback form.
July 1, 2010: After the Closed is finished, I will limit the number of updates to this blog. I need to implement changes that are longer-term in nature and the daily updates are too distracting (to a person who is already easily distracted). If you want to be informed of updates to this site, please enter your name and email address to the feedback form. It is located here.
One of the big changes that I need to address is how the site is monetized. I thought that I would receive substantial sponsorship interest from the indoor clubs (because they have the most to gain from this site) but that largely did not materialize.
The Ohio Graduation Test data will remain free.
There are two Central players who remain in the Midwest Closed. They are Chris Diaz and Niki Flower. As you view the table, the more matches a player had (i.e. Done-4), then the better the tournament for that player. However, please keep in mind that it was a bit easier to lose a match early in the front draw and then progress through the backdraw. Also note that some draws are much harder than others. Click here to go to the table.
Please keep in mind that there are more COGP tournaments coming up, including the Columbus Academy Open which will be held from July 12-18. Click here to go to the entry area for The Columbus Academy Open. Click here to go to the Central Ohio Grand Prix site. It is best to submit your entry via the COGP site. You can list any summer conflicts that you have and you can save $3.
June 30, 2010: There were a few surprises from yesterday's action. Central has no boys or girls left in the front draws. Diaz, Metka, and Wagner still remain in the B18's. No Central boys are left in the B16's. Flower and Kobelt remain in the G18's while Morales and Lauren Thai are still in the G16's. Click here to go to the table. Please note that those remaining are listed in red.
Cincinnati's Zach Mueck and Joey Fritz are both in the quarterfinals.
June 29, 2010: The Midwest Closed continues to progress. Diaz, Metka, Wagner, and Weldon are still in the B18's with Diaz and Metka in the front draw. Just Stu Little is left in the B16's. In the G18's, Crouser, Flower, Kobelt, and Utkin remain, with Kobelt still in the front draw. Morales is the only girl left in the front draw in G16's and Cloern, Li, Morton, Stein, Lauren Thai, and Thenappan remain in the backdraw. Click here to go to the table..
The boys in the 16's need to keep working hard if they are going to keep up with the pace set by Central's B18, G18, and G16's. They will also need to contend with the boys coming up behind them in the 14's. These boys include Stephen Miller, Joel Montgomery, Jeffrey Melvin, and C.J. Cash. Montgomery is still in the front draw.
June 28, 2010: Central players are doing well at the Closed. We have many in the front draw, a few more than that in the back draw, and just a few who are on the way home. To get an update on each player, please refer to the table below. FD indicates still in the front draw. BD means still in the backdraw. Done-2 means that a player is finished and the total number of singles matches that he/she played. Please note that this is a rather unique tournament because it is a "feed-in-consolation", which means that all players keep playing until they get two losses. In the table below, those in the front draw are indicated in red. Click here to go to the table.
In doubles, Metka-Weldon, Diaz-Wagner, and Niki Flower-Minor are in the quarterfinals. Maddie Kobelt-Kopenski are in the semi-finals.
Midwest Closed Draws |
|
Boys |
Girls |
June 26, 2010: Links to the Midwest Closed draws are to the right. Play will start Saturday morning. This is a phenomenally tough tournament and many of the top seeds in the 18's will be going to highly regarded universities. Wish our kids "good luck".
| Location | Elevation |
| Hilliard Davidson | 817 |
| Ohio Stadium - Press Box Roof | 774 |
| Upper Arlington | 682 |
| Columbus School for Girls - Kirk Campus Tennis Courts | 636 |
| OSU Stickney Courts | 623 |
| Ohio Stadium | 591 |
June 24, 2010: To me and many others, it has always seemed windier at Hilliard Davidson's tennis courts than at any other tennis venue. Now I think I've got the reason why. It's the elevation.
Have you ever been to an OSU football game and seen the completely outstretched flags at the top of the stadium when it's not that windy outside of the stadium? Be happy that you are watching football and not playing tennis at Hilliard Davidson. That's because the elevation is similar. In fact, the elevation of the Hilliard Davidson's courts are 40 feet higher than the OSU press box roof.
Why is this more than just a passing curiosity? It is important to the Central District because Central uses Hilliard Davidson as the major site in determining D1 players for States. Typically, players with a defensive playing style do better in the wind. Unfortunately for Central, the Stickney Courts are not "wind" courts. They are at a lower elevation plus they are further protected by trees and buildings. The best situation for Central would be to use the Stickney Courts for Districts. If they aren't available, Central should use courts that are most similar to the Stickney Courts. Is UA available for the D1 Districts?
Boys |
|||
| Boys 18 | School | Boys 16 | School |
| Benalcazar, Beni | UA (Done-3) | Little, Stu | UA (Done-4) |
| Cempre, Casey | Thomas Worthington (Done-3) | Seitz, Kent | Dublin Jerome (Done-3) |
Diaz, Chris |
Watterson (BD) |
Sybert, Oliver |
New Albany (Done-4) |
Metka, Kevin |
Worthington Kilbourne (Done-5) |
Teague, Canyon |
Gahanna (Done-3) |
Thai, Doh |
Ready (Done-2) |
Wallace, Nate |
UA (Done-3) |
Wagner, Ian |
Wellington (BD) |
Wareti, Matt |
Bexley (Done-4) |
Weldon, Billy |
UA (Done-5) |
||
Girls |
|||
| Girls 18 | School | Girls 16 | School |
Buell, Meghan |
New Albany (Done-3) |
Bellinger, Lauren |
Dublin Jerome (Done-3) |
Crouser, Nisha |
Wellington (Done-4) |
Cloern, Elaine |
UA (Done-4) |
Easdale, Cailey |
Dublin Jerome (Done-2) |
Li, My Linh |
DeSales (Done-6) |
Flower, Niki |
UA (BD) |
Metka, Claire |
Unknown (Done-3) |
Kobelt, Maddie |
New Albany (Done-6) |
Morales, Rachael | Hartley (Done-6) |
Lewis, Abigail |
Westerville North (Done-3) |
Morton, Madison |
Bexley (Done-4) |
Ott, Olivia |
Watterson (Done-2) |
Shepherd, Katie |
Watterson (Done-3) |
Stevens, Maureen |
Watterson (Done-3) |
Stein, Sarah |
Dublin Jerome (Done-4) |
Utkin, Lydia |
Dublin Jerome (Done-5) |
Thai, Ashley |
Hilliard Darby (Done-2) |
Thai, Lauren |
Hilliard Darby (Done-7) |
||
Thenappan, Ashwatha |
Dublin Coffman (Done-5) |
June 23, 2010: Congratulations to the players who qualified for the Midwest Closed. They are in the table to the right. There are 128 players in each division. Chris Diaz is seeded fourth in the Boys 18 and Kevin Metka is seeded 17th. Niki Flower is seeded 21, Maddie Kobelt - 26th, and Nisha Crouser - 30th.
In the Boys 16, Stu Little is seeded 30th. In the Girls 16, Lauren Thai is seeded 25th, My Linh Thai - 26, and Rachael Morales - 28.
As is obvious with the seeding numbers, the Midwest Closed is an extremely tough tournament with the best players from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and West Virginia participating. The local players who do well in the Closed go on to play in the National Championships.
| Player | Area of Residence / School |
Dublin |
|
Dublin |
|
Upper Arlington |
|
Worthington |
|
New Albany |
|
Powell |
|
Olentangy Liberty |
|
Olentangy Orange |
June 19, 2010: Some coaches will be pleasantly surprised when one of the better area tournament players show up at their school. Below is a list of the incoming freshmen who may be able to quickly contribute. Please note that the area in which the players live may not be the school in which they attend.
Also note that being on this list is not critical. Kevin Metka would not have been on this list as an incoming freshman, and he did just fine. The list is in alphabetical order.
Clicking on the player's name will take you to his / her information on TennisRecruiting.net.
| Boys | Girls |
| B12 | G12 |
| B14 | G14 |
| B16 | G16 |
| B18 | G18 |
June 16, 2010: The Midwest Qualifiers are finished. The Central players did very well. Chris Diaz won the B18's by beating Jimmy Roebker 1, 3. Niki Flower won the G18's by beating Alyssa Ritchie 0, 0.
In the backdraws there were a number of interesting matches. In a repeat of the state finals, Metka beat Mueck 1, 4. Matthew Wareti beat Stu Little 5, 4 and Kent Seitz 5, 4. My Linh Li (DeSales) beat Madison Cook (Kentucky) for 3rd in the G16's. Sarah Stein (Jerome) beat Rachael Morales (Hartley) 2-6, 6-4, 1-0.
In the B16's and G16's Central didn't fare quite as well as the Southwest.
June 15, 2010: Some of the big matches from yesterday's B18 Midwest Qualifier include: Fritz beat Metka; R.Bandy beat Weldon; Diaz beat R.Bandy; and Roebker (Kentucky HS player headed for Xavier) beat Fritz; Wagner beat Benalcazar; Reinhart beat Thai.
Diaz plays Roebker today for the B18 championship. Also playing today are: Weldon versus Wagner; Reinhart versus Metka; and Cempre versus Mueck.
In G18's, Flower beat Kobelt. Flower is in the finals against Ritchie today.
I also have a correction. Even though it's a USTA tournament, the Ohio Valley Tennis Association (OVTA) is taking responsibility for not having adequate facilities to insure that the Boys 16 age group could play a real match, instead of an eight game pro set. Let's hope that the best 16 boys made it to the Closed from the OVTA. Due to the unfortunate points-per-round system, the points awarded for a Closed "win" are phenominally important to a player's success. If a player doesn't make it to the Closed, then he can't get those points and he might not have enough points to get into important tournaments later in the season.
For those of you who are high school coaches, believe me, you don't want to understand anything about the points-per-round system. Please just be aware that many tennis players and their parents go through a great deal of anguish and cash during the summer, fall, and winter dealing with it. For more information than you want about the USTA and its point system, click here to read the USTA-related documents. (Please don't read them. Instead, take your dog for a walk. If you don't have a dog, this is a good reason to buy one.)
June 14, 2010: Amazingly, the USTA used an eight game pro set for the first two rounds of the Boys 16 age group because of the rain and the lack of indoor facilities. If an area doesn't have indoor facilities, then why is the tournament scheduled for that location? Central boys still in the B16 main draw are Little and Wareti.
In the B18 draw, Fritz beat Nakayama; Metka beat Abunku (Lakota); Roebker beat Benalcazar; Mueck beat Wagner; Weldon beat Sherba; R.Bandy beat Cempre; and Diaz beat Thai. Metka and Fritz (the D2 runner-up) will be an interesting match today.
June 13, 2010: The rain hampered play today in the Midwest Qualifiers. I am going to mix in a few of the girls' matches since that is the next season coming up. Some of the bigger matches included: Nakayama beat Andy Jackson; Nisha Crouser beat Maureen Stevens; Corinne Rauck beat Meghan Buell; and Elaine Cloern beat Ashley Thai.
June 12, 2010: The Midwest Qualifier draws are out for the 16's and 18's in both genders. (See below for links.) Not to jinx anyone, but some possible match-ups in the quarterfinal and R16 rounds include: Metka vs. Fritz; Wagner vs. Mueck; Cempre vs. R.Bandy; and Reinhart vs. Diaz.
June 11, 2010: I'm continuing to work on the Four Equal Districts project and I am starting to receive feedback from the wrestlers. Again, keeping in mind that wrestling and tennis are very similar, here are two maps that I've created for the wrestlers to help them understand what I'm up to. (Each map is clickable.) The first map represents every school that sends a wrestler to States. Note how there are overlaps because of Wrestlings' three divisions. Also note how some counties are split. The second map represents each school that had a champion or runner-up. (Some schools had several Champs/Runner-ups.)
What I think is fascinating about the maps is that while Northeast Ohio is a major power in Wrestling, it appears that they are doing what's best for the sport by sending some of their good teams to the Northwest so they can have balanced Districts. Also note that the Southeast is also having problems with Wrestling, but instead of using a quota system approach of insuring that they have "representation at States", the Wrestlers are making them earn it. To thank all wrestlers for having common sense and a logical approach to high school sports, I was going to suggest that we make this a "Hug a Wrestler Day", but that's probably not a good idea.
Good luck at the next round of USTA qualifiers.
June 10, 2010: The biggest matches of the year are coming for the high school players who are playing tournaments in the USTA. Those who qualified in the previous round will start play this weekend throughout the Ohio Valley area, which includes Cincinnati, Dayton, Springfield, Columbus, and parts of West Virginia. Those who do exceptionally well will get to participate in the most prestigious tournament in the Midwest Section, called the Midwest Closed.
The Girls who are 16 and under are playing at the Upper Arlington courts. The other age groups are playing out-of-town in Huntington, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Parkersburg.
The Central District is well represented. To check out which players on your team are playing, please click on the links above. The G18 Girls draw is already listed and the other draws will be posted by Saturday morning.
School |
# 3 Setters |
Wins |
Losses |
3 Set Winning % |
Hartley |
13 |
11 |
2 |
85% |
Village Academy |
16 |
12 |
4 |
75% |
Hilliard Darby |
11 |
8 |
3 |
73% |
New Albany |
21 |
15 |
6 |
71% |
Westland |
13 |
9 |
4 |
69% |
Lancaster |
16 |
11 |
5 |
69% |
Upper Arlington |
27 |
18 |
9 |
67% |
Bexley |
18 |
12 |
6 |
67% |
St. Charles |
14 |
9 |
5 |
64% |
Dublin Jerome |
18 |
11 |
7 |
61% |
Olentangy Liberty |
10 |
6 |
4 |
60% |
June 9, 2010: I would like to get to the point in which a "coach of the year" could be identified based on a few valid data points, as well as a few subjective items (i.e. sportsmanship of the team). In my opinion, one criterion would be how well players perform in three set matches. I would certainly welcome feedback on this but I think that the better coaches show their value during three setters.
I looked at all of the teams that had 10 or more three set matches. That included 44 teams. Of those 44 teams, the teams that had a match winning percentage of 60% or greater are listed in the table.
Other criteria could include: performance of doubles teams, strength of schedule (based on the ability of the team), sportsmanship of the team, a winning schedule, and ability to do well in its league.
June 8, 2010: USTA Area Qualifier matches are finished. Matches with the top players included: Diaz beat Metka 4, 2; Wagner beat Benalcazar 3, 5; Sybert beat Cheng 2, 1; Seitz beat Sybert 3, 2; and Seitz beat Griffin 4-6, 6-1, 1-0. Qualifying for the Closed is this weekend.
Personally, I think that the best coaches help their teams win a greater percentage of their three set matches. Typically, by that time in the match, the coaches can focus more time on the three setters, and they've had more time to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents. I'll dig into this in the next couple of days.
I am also working on the project to identify four equal Districts for the state. As I have stated before, wrestling may be the best model. I'm asking the wrestlers in JJHuddle to double check my chart / map but this is a preliminary map that shows the schools of the state participants from the three wrestling divisions in each of the four Districts. Note that the District lines vary by division so there are overlaps. Wrestling sends ~672 wrestlers to States from ~310 different schools. Wrestling also seeds each weight class. If you just thought, "wow, these wrestlers really have it together", I agree.
June 7, 2010: The High School Court Comparisons document is now available for this year for the boys and for the girls. The chart to the right is for the Columbus Academy Boys team. Even though there may have been an occasional hick-up during the season, the lineups for the entire season looked very solid this year for the Boys.
June 6, 2010: In USTA play, Diaz narrowly defeated Wagner 5, 4; Metka beat Cempre 2, 4; Metka beat Bennoui 1, 4; Teague beat Seitz 2-6, 6-1, 1-0; Little beat Teague 0, 3; Wallace beat Sybert 7-5, 3-6, 1-0; Wareti beat Wallace 5, 6; Little beat Wareti 3, 4; and Teague beat Wallace 2, 1.
June 4, 2010: The USTA season is now in full swing which makes it difficult for the guys who are banged up from a tough high school season. The area qualifier is underway and the draws are here for the 18's and here for the 16's. Notable wins to date include: Bennoui over Thai, Acomb over Hendrix; Cempre over Weldon, and Metka over Nakayama. Carter is not playing the qualifier because of his wrist injury.
I still have a few more things to do before I wrap up this season. I want to research the D2 "spot" issue and I want to update my "High School Tennis Court Comparisons" document, which shows how each "court" performed during the season.
June 3, 2010: Two things today. Some of you have wondered what the "four years of history" document looks like. Click on the link to the right to view the report for Kevin Metka.
Racquet Club has assembled a nice video from States. It is available here.
June 2, 2010: The results of the OTCA matches are available in the team results pages. Coaches, if there are any other matches that need to be submitted, please get them into me quickly.
For the players who want to keep playing, check out the Central Ohio Grand Prix tournaments. Some are sanctioned by the USTA and others are not. These are also some of the most affordable tournaments in the central Ohio area. The Gahanna tournament is slated next.
Believe it or not, I'm actually more "into" education than I am about tennis. On each team page is a link to my education data for each league. Clicking on the image to your right will take you to the education results for the Ohio Capital Conference. I know that this isn't tennis-related, but parents and college coaches might find this to be interesting. The "Home" page for the education data is here.
June 1, 2010: The coverage of the State and OTCA tournaments continues. Pictures and videos from States and the OTCA are here. (Please look on the right navigation bar.) News from Cincinnati is here. For news from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, click here. The Toledo Blade's state coverage is here. The Chillicothe Gazette's tennis article is here.
More pictures from the Columbus Dispatch are here.
STATE VIDEO CLIPS - CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS |
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Videos of the last points of the Diaz and Metka matches are now available to your right. If you have PC or Mac compatibility issues, please make sure that you are using the most recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Please give me a heads-up if you are encountering compatibility issues.
May 31, 2010: I had to put up with a lot of "Go Bears!" cheers directed my way yesterday. When I posted my blog entry (see below), I thought that I could safely abuse UA because I didn't think that anyone from UA would be up early enough to read it before the OTCA Tournament. Those bugging me probably stayed up all night...
OTCA TOURNAMENT PICTURES |
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OTCA VIDEO CLIPS |
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In honor of UA winning the OTCA D1 Championship, click hear.
To the right are pictures from States. You may download these pictures and print them or use them on Facebook. You may not post them on a commercial web site. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll have a couple of video clips tomorrow.
Not that I'm not counting, but Central won seven of the eight championships this year between the boys and the girls, losing just D2 Girls Singles in the fall.
May 30, 2010 Update: Central won both the D1 and D2 championships. Congratulations to UA and to Columbus Academy. UA beat St. X, 3-2, and St. John's Jesuit, 3-1. The deciding matches were 1st doubles (Vannatta-Wallace) against St. X and 3rd Singles (Benalcazar) against St. John's Jesuit. CA's matches were not as tense as UA's. CA beat Seven Hills (3-0) and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (3-0) in the finals. All of the results are to the right. To see the results, "zooming in" is necessary. Both files are pdfs.
PICTURES FROM SATURDAY AT STATES
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May 30, 2010: Well. That was good. Central won every championship and had two of the finalists. I don't know if that has ever happened. Also congrats to Southwest, which also had a nice tournament.
Here is a nice summary article from the Columbus Dispatch's Jeremy McLaughlin about the state tournament. I would also like to say "thanks" to Jeremy, Paul Batterson, and the other tennis reporters for their great coverage this year. I believe in the theory of - if we do a great job of recognizing our great young tennis players now, then we'll get even more great players in the future. Their coverage is extremely beneficial to Central Ohio tennis.
I wonder if the NE-leaning OTCA will try to reduce Central's number of spots even more next year.(?) If you can't beat'em, then don't even let'em play...
I know that you are probably a little sick of tennis but please come out and support Upper Arlington and Columbus Academy in the team championships at 9am at the OSU Stickney Courts. (Yes, I get tired of the "Go Bears!" thing, too, but it's just one more day, and you won't be required to yell or even murmur, "Go Bears".) All that you need to do is clap. Let's support the Central District teams.
I'll put pictures from States online in the next update.
May 29, 2010: Great tennis yesterday. Great tennis day for the Central District. Those still in the tournament include: Diaz (BW), Metka (WK) (with a great win over SW's Reinhart), Weldon-Little (UA), Stein-Seitz (DJ), Bennoui-Hendrix (NA) (winning against St. X.), Enslen-Buchanan (CA) (with a convincing win over NE's #1), and Bahnson-Hughes (CA).
Carter (OL) won a great first match over NE's Marx while playing with a wrist injury, but retired in his next match versus SW's Mueck after losing the first set in a tie breaker. Cempre (TW) also won his first round match in a 3 setter.
Southwest is also doing well.
May 28, 2010: Time for States. Have not heard about any weather-related changes.
If you missed it in yesterday's Dispatch, here is a nice article about Chris Diaz.
I have made changes to the State pictures. They are here. If you click on them, you get the names and schools of the players. On the same page are pictures of the coaches of the state participants. You may download and print off the large pictures if you would like. I'm fine with kids (or hip parents) posting them on their Facebook pages. However, please do not post them on a commercial web site. (Contact me if you have any questions.) I will be distributing hard-copy pictures to Central's state participants today so make sure that you see me.
I would be happy to add the names and post the pictures of the other District's State participants as I have done for Central. Please get them to me by next Wednesday.
For scrapbook fans, I am offering a service in which you may obtain all of your son's varsity matches during the four years in which he was in high school. Click here for more details.
May 27, 2010: Do we want the best tennis players at States or should State spots be based on where you live? In other high school sports, my guess is that events such as the 100 meter dash probably have 14 of the best 16 sprinters in the state at the state track meet with just a small handful of deserving sprinters not receiving the honor. I would also expect that the winning margin between the best and worst sprinters to be just a few meters.
Tennis is absolutely nothing like that. Using the 100 meter dash track analogy, the winning margin between the best tennis player at States and the worst player at States would be about 95 meters. In fact, there are players who didn't make States that would beat the worst players at States by a hypothetical 80 meters. Why? Some might say that the OHSAA discriminates based on where a player lives, because players have to be much better in some Districts to earn the honor of playing at States versus players in other Districts.
Why is track fair? For the 100 meter dash you need 100 meters of flat ground on which to train. Let's even go as far as to say 120 meters (just so that the sprinters have a few meters to slow down). (I'm being generous here because when I ran high hurdles at Miami Trace, I only needed about a yard to come to a complete and full stop.) In fact, believe it or not, most high schools actually have their own track. That's right - their very own track.
To be a great tennis player you need these four things: a great work ethic, indoor courts for year-round training, a critical mass of excellent players with which to train, and excellent coaching. No area of the state has an advantage with work ethic, but the large urban areas of the state have enormous advantages with the other criteria. If you want to be a great sprinter, you can live anywhere in the state. If you want to be a great tennis player, then you need to live in an area that has indoor courts, numerous other great players, and great coaching.
Unfortunately, while most high schools in the state have their own track (and many have nearby, outdoor tennis courts), none have their own indoor tennis facility for year-round training. For that matter, most counties in the state don't have indoor tennis facilities, and therein lies the problem. Without an indoor facility, players can't train and the area can't attract the best coaches.
District / Seeding |
Year |
Tennis Recruiting .net |
CEN-1 |
Junior |
25 |
CEN-2 |
Junior |
165 |
SE-1 |
Junior |
No rating |
SE-2 |
Senior |
No rating |
NE-1 |
Junior |
376 |
NE-2 |
Junior |
93 |
NE-3 |
Junior |
168 |
NE-4 |
Junior |
456 |
NE-5 |
Senior |
670 |
NW-1 |
Senior |
466 |
NW-2 |
Sophomore |
647 |
NW-3 |
Sophomore |
954 |
SW-1 |
Senior |
46 |
SW-2 |
Junior |
647 |
SW-3 |
Sophomore |
733 |
SW-4 |
Senior |
No rating |
Check out the D2 player positions for this year. Note that I'm using the players' positions rather than their names. Also included is each player's best 2010 TennisRecruiting.net ranking. This is a national ranking and to get a ranking you only need to play in a small number of USTA events. A senior who is ranked as 100 in the nation is generally going to be a bit better than a junior with the same ranking. In general, it's reasonably accurate and the college coaches rely on it heavily to identify quality players. Out of the entire list, only one player's TennisRecruiting.net ranking is out of whack for 2010 - Northeast's #1 (in bold). (I don't know his situation but he was ranked in the low 200's a year ago, and that means that he's a very good player.) Also be aware that two very strong Central players who are going to play college tennis didn't make it to States and they had rankings of 292 and 424. That's nuts because there are only six players in the entire draw with better rankings than theirs.
Going to States is an enormous honor for a high school tennis player. All top quality players deserve a reasonable opportunity of earning the honor of competing at States regardless of where they live. The system was broken before Southeast separated from Central and that change made the system many times more ludicrous. It is way past time to completely redraw the District lines and make four equal Districts.
If the wrestlers can identify a way to get four equal Districts (and create fair draws), we can, too (or we should pay them to help us).
May 26, 2010: Please note the promotion for the PanCAN Tournament. The Diaz Family sponsors and runs this doubles tournament and the dollars donated are being used to help find a cure for pancreatic cancer. It's not only a wonderful cause but it's also a great deal of fun. Please put the dates, July 16-18, on your refrigerator door calendar and plan to attend. If you want to make sure that the Diaz Family contacts you with more information, please enter your email address and name on the form located here. There is additional information on that same page. If you are interested in playing high school doubles next year, this is a great tournament to try out that potential partner.
It was a great match between Upper Arlington and New Albany yesterday with UA winning 3-1. The Weldon-Bennoui match did not finish. UA and Columbus Academy will represent Central in the Ohio Tennis Coaches' Association (OTCA) tournament for Division 1 and Division 2, respectively. This tournament will be held this Sunday. Good luck to both of them.
May 25, 2010: When you have a complete monopoly over high school sports, you can do whatever you want. The draws are out and it is what you'd expect. We now have nine straight years of Southwest versus Central. The draws are here.
| DISTRICT DRAWS |
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| Central |
| Northeast |
| Northwest |
| Southwest |
I've never had a big problem with the D2 draws, but it is unfortunate that Wagner potentially faces Fritz in the second round. Fritz was last year's champion and Wagner was in the final four during his freshman and sophomore years. In doubles, two highly touted teams, Enslen-Buchanan and Goldberg-Bortz, are slated to play each other in the second round. At least the D2 draws utilize the concept of randomness. Unlike D1, their doubles and singles draws are different in the way in which they handle the 1 and 2 seeds.
The big, Upper Arlington versus New Albany match is tonight at 4pm at UA.
May 24, 2010: I have not heard anything from the OHSAA on whether they are going to create fair draws for Division 1 this year by using a random draw to distribute the top seeds or a rotation method. For that matter, the OHSAA should probably not communicate their intentions, but they are aware of the draw problems (and they have been since 9/2008). Now that a large number of people from multiple cities and Districts (and perhaps some members of the press) are carefully watching the OHSAA, it will be interesting to see if they just make the draws look different or if the draws will actually be different this year.
The keys to watch are who the first and second seeds would be playing in the second round. If Metka (Central's #1) is scheduled to play Reinhart (SW's #2) and Mueck (SW's #1) is scheduled to play Carter (Central's #2) in the second round, then the OHSAA is once again shielding the Northeast from playing against Southwest's and Central's top players until the Final Four.
With five #1 and five #2 seeds, the Division 2 draws will be more interesting than normal. Since the Southeast's 1 and 2 would typically go through Central, it would make far more sense for these players to play against Central's 1 and 2 in the early going. We'll see if that happens. Again, this wouldn't be a problem if all Districts had the same number of spots for States (as they do in wrestling).
The pictures of the boys going to States from Central are to the right.
If any other Districts would like to have pictures of their State participants posted, I'd be happy to do that. These guys deserve the recognition.
Thanks to Linda Little and Phil Diaz for the pictures.
May 23, 2010: Big day yesterday. Metka beat Nakayama and then beat Carter in the D1 finals to take Central's first seed. Weldon-Little earned the Central's first seed in doubles after beating Bennoui-Hendrix. After getting beat by Carter, Cempre beat Nakayama for third. Stein-Seitz beat McClarren-Searfoss for third in D1 doubles.
In Division 2 Diaz beat Wagner and Enslen-Buchanan beat Bahnson-Hughes for the first seeds.
Pictures will be updated tomorrow. In the meantime, the Dispatch had their photographers at the D1 Districts and they are online here.
Cincinnati's results are here. Cleveland's are here. Nothing is in the Toledo Blade but I would expect it to be updated on the District web site tomorrow. Southeast hasn't bothered to post anything.
May 22, 2010: Congratulations to those who made States. There were numerous great contests yesterday that were the deciding matches. They are in the table to the right.
Division 1 |
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Singles |
Doubles |
Carter |
Weldon-Little |
Metka |
Bennoui-Hendrix |
Nakayama |
Stein-Seitz |
Cempre |
McClarren-Searfoss |
Division 2 |
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Diaz |
Enslen-Buchanan |
Wagner |
Bahnson-Hughes |
There were others who deserved to go to States from Central, but tennis politics can be just as bad as any other form of politics when one area or group has control for too long. Removing two strong D2 spots from Central, certainly improves the odds for other Districts.
I'm leaving for Districts now. If they are moved inside, I may not have an opportunity to alert you to where the boys are playing. Please call ahead.
May 21, 2010 Updated: Districts are being played indoors at Elysium Tennis. Unsure if they will be moved back outdoors if the weather improves. Directions are here, but the satellite map is obviously outdated. To enter area, go east on Corporate Blvd.
May 21, 2010: The Districts are today (hopefully). There were several big matches yesterday. UA beat Olentangy Liberty to setup the D1 final with New Albany. West beat Centennial to win the City League and Columbus Academy beat Watterson. In individual matches Carter beat Benalcazar and Diaz beat Enslen.
A good summary of the Districts is provided by the Dispatch today here.
Districts in Cincinnati were held yesterday. There were several surprises including Adam Reinhart beat Ryan Bandy. Reinhart is a great player but Ryan Bandy had been one of the favorites to win States. Unfortunately, Southwest gets four spots for Division 1 while Northeast gets six (just in case I haven't mentioned that before), Central gets four, and Northwest receives two. Southwest has won 10 out of the last 14 boys D1 singles and doubles titles (since 2003). Central has three and Northwest has one. Northeast has zero championships.
An good article about the OSU Men's doubles squads is here from the Dispatch. OSU plays Wisconsin today at 9:00am in the NCAA's.
May 20, 2010: After a few rainy days, matches resumed yesterday. New Albany beat Jerome in an OTCA match with Bennoui beating Stein and NA's Seitz beating Sybert. Since Liberty beat Pickerington Central that sets up a match between UA and Liberty tonight.
Congrats to the boys and girls varsity tennis players who were also named as Dispatch-Scholar Athletes. They include (in school order): Luke Bauserman (Buckeye Valley), Zeenath Ameen (Scholarship Winner) (Dublin Scioto), William Trautman (Granville), Aaron Dunlap (Jonathan Alder), Kwame Aidoo, Jr. (Mifflin), Alexandra Power (Olentangy Liberty), Sruti Brahmandam (Pickerington North), Malivan Xaiyakosy (South), Jack Toscano (St. Charles), Daniel Trotier (Upper Arlington), David Griffith (Westland), and Elizabeth Early (Worthington Christian).
May 19, 2010: We had yet another rainout as the teams try to complete their OTCA matches. New Albany will play Jerome. UA and Liberty may also get a chance to play against each other in the other semifinal. All four teams are in the latest state poll which is here. In D2, Academy, Watterson, and Bexley make up three of the top ten teams in the state.
As for tennis news outside of central Ohio... Competion for the Central District is going to be tough as always from Southwest. (Please refer to my blog entry on May 17.) Here's a recent article from the Enquirer.
A rundown of Cleveland's Division 2 players is here. An article about Toledo's St. John's Jesuit team is here.
May 18, 2010: Not sure what happened at the Central District office yesterday. The draws for Division 2 are listed but not for Division 1. The links to the right will provide access to the draws for the other Districts.
To followup on the issue that I delved into yesterday, note the Division 1 draw for the Southwest District. Either Ryan Bandy or Adam Reinhart won't be going to States this year because they face each other in the qualifying round. Both players have had success against our District's best players. Meanwhile, the Northeast gets six (6) spots to States in Division 1 and five (5) spots in Division 2. Central gets four spots for Division 1 and two spots for Division 2.
The Columbus Dispatch has had several great tennis articles recently. The one today about high school players doing their own officiating is on the front page of sports and it is here. An article about OSU's men's tennis coach, Ty Tucker, is here.
May 17, 2010: Since no tennis was played yesterday, it gives me an opportunity to address a tennis issue that is a concern to me.
The answer to my poll question was "eight". (See right.) That is the number of years that the OHSAA has scheduled the top two seeds in the D1 Central District and the top two seeds in the Southwest District to play each other in the second round of States. Why is this an issue? It's because if you want the tennis players in your District to have a good opportunity to make it to the State Final Four, then you need to protect your 1 and 2 seeds on Friday so that they can make it until Saturday. When considering the dominance that the Southwest has had over the last seven years, that's the District to avoid.
Another reason to not use an arranged draw is because it's an undesirable situation for players to know prior to the District seeding round who they will play at States. Players may prefer to play the number 1 or 2 seeds from the Northeast or Northwest Districts in the first or second rounds versus the players from the Southwest. (This is especially a concern in tennis because tennis players compete against each other year-round in tournaments and they are very familiar with each other's abilities.) Please note that I'm not aware of any problems associated with this occurring but when it's easy to avoid, why not do it correctly?
The OHSAA has apparently understood the benefits of rotation because they do this in a portion of the draw, but not for all of it. To view the draws for the last ten years, the OHSAA draws are available here. Please note that the draws actually look substantially different each year until you focus on the 1 and 2 seeds from each District. To quickly see who has won the State Singles and Doubles championships over the last ten years, please click here. To see how it could be done correctly, click here.
The Division II draw is more random, but it will be especially interesting to see how the OSHAA positions the Southeast District's 1 and 2 seeds this year. The Southeast District's players are not expected to be as competitive as the other District's players because of their lack of year-round training facilities.
To better understand how Ohio high school tennis could be run differently, please check out how high school wrestling is handled in Ohio. Not only does wrestling do a great job with their draws, but they also understand the importance of having four Districts with an equal number of participants. If you think about it, wrestling and tennis are perhaps the most similar of all high school sports because of the direct athlete-versus-athlete competitions and comparisons.
We'll see if the OHSAA addresses the seeding issue this year.
As soon as the Central District draws are out, they will be linked to in a manner similar to what was done for the Sectional Draws.
May 16, 2010: There were numerous great matches yesterday, including several very good matches against teammates. (Please note that since I have no journalistic abilities, I'm going to use "beat" as my verb choice every single time.) Some of the highlights included: Diaz beat Wagner, Carter beat Metka, Wagner beat Thai, Nakayama beat Shivener, Metka beat Cempre, Harris beat Acomb, and Acomb beat Wareti. In doubles, Davidson (McClarren-Searfoss) won their championship in numerous close matches as did Jerome (Stein-Seitz) and Hartley (Mueller-Pecinovsky).
The answer to my poll question will be tomorrow. For a hint, read the rather long OHSAA Tennis Analysis that I wrote in September 2008 prior to the girls season. I also provided this document to the OHSAA back in 2008.
May 15, 2010: Forgot to mention this yesterday because things were just too hectic, but "thank you" to the Sectional tournament officials for their efforts on Friday. There were 282 matches (not counting feed-in matches) that were played on Friday. Also thanks to the Dispatch for including all of the main-draw match scores in the paper.
There were just two matches from yesterday. Good luck to those still playing in the Sectionals.
After you are finished watching the Sectionals, please note that the OSU Men's Tennis team has their first round NCAA match at the Stickney courts against Western Michigan at 1pm today. The cost is $6 for adults and $4 for students. More information is available here.
May 14, 2010: Much to my surprise the weather turned out to be a great day for tennis yesterday. Except for a small number of players who could not exceed the three match maximum, it appears that all of the matches were played. I did notice a few upsets, but in a rush to get the data entered, I haven't studied the results.
Thanks to those who are helping to obtain pictures. Recently posted are pictures for Ready's Thai, Gahanna's Shivener and Teague, Liberty's Gibbons, and Davidson's McClarren and Searfoss. Also posted is a team picture for Gahanna and a new team picture of Dublin Jerome.
May 13, 2010: Yesterday was a rain out. Let's hope that we get a few Sectional matches in today. These kids don't need to miss another day of school tomorrow. (That opinion may not be unanimous though.) Good luck!
I've been sitting on this poll question all season. It's time.
May 12, 2010: Briggs had a close match with Franklin Heights as did Bexley and Worthington Kilbourne. Many matches that were scheduled, did not take place. In individual match-ups, Thai defeated Harris and Metka beat Wareti.
The state poll is out. It looks pretty accurate to me. It is available here from the Dispatch. Thanks to a few of our local teams who are playing schools from other cities, it makes it easier to arrive at a top ten.
For the really hardcore data people, 85% of the site usage is from central Ohio but it is also being accessed by users outside of our area. I don't know who accesses the site but I know the city in which they live. Toledo, Cincinnati, and Cleveland are certainly checking out our teams.
I'm also seeing accesses from small towns that contain colleges. The map to the right represents the visitors that have accessed the site (time period: launch date to last night).
May 11, 2010: As I think many of you know, this site has a number of objectives. They include: recognizing the athletes who play high school tennis, raising awareness of high school tennis, and making our central Ohio players more marketable to college coaches. (Please read on for yet another objective.)
I have a multi-prong approach to reaching out to the college coaches - one of which is to identify the indoor clubs where the kids play. Most of the stronger area players are involved with their clubs during the other nine months of the year in which they are not playing high school tennis. The idea is to make college coaches more aware (and comfortable) with how these players are trained and developed by listing their clubs. It also gives the college coaches another group of people to speak with as they pursue players for their teams.
This dovetails into another objective for this site -- make enough revenue so that my hourly wage is a bit greater than a Greek postage stamp. Since there are also benefits to the clubs, the page placements that you see are paid sponsorships.
I am appreciative for Olympic Indoor's participation as the first sponsor. You will see their placements on the new, High School Graduates Playing College Tennis, page as well as other pages, very soon.
Last night, there were numerous good team and individual match-ups including: Jerome over Gahanna; Briggs defeating Whetstone; and UA beating Watterson. Not only was Gahanna unbeaten but they had also lost just seven courts during the entire season. However, Jerome was Gahanna's first contest against one of the area's strongest teams.
Individual match-ups included Diaz over Weldon; Stein beating Shivener; and Wong (LEX) edging Cempre. Cempre was a big upward mover with wins over Benalcazar and Nakayama during the OCC's and a close loss to Wong yesterday.
May 10, 2010: The site is up and running again. A provider to my Internet hosting company encountered problems today and that affected my site and many others.
My condolences to the John Dodd family. Coach Dodd past away yesterday (5/9) and his obituary is in the Dispatch today.
May 9, 2010: The guys made it through a very windy day yesterday. The data from the Dispatch is online but I'm obviously missing dozens of additional, major matches. If coaches provide me with the results of matches that affect the singles players on My List of Top Central Ohio Players. I will enter them.
May 8, 2010: I'm guessing that it might be a tad bit windy for tennis today. This will help those playing their Sectionals at Hilliard Davidson and Hilliard Darby to work up to the wind speeds that you'll face next Friday and Saturday.
May 7, 2010: Hope the weather holds for the league tournaments tomorrow. Big individual matches from yesterday included Metka over Wagner and Harris beating Wareti.
The most popular response to the poll question, "What percentage of matches are three setters?", was "10% or less". There have been 2,264 non-pro-set matches played thus far and 314 were three-setters. That's about 14%. The court with the most three-setters is second doubles.
Parents, could you help out the coaches and take a team photo while you are watching the matches tomorrow? It doesn't have to be a formal picture. I take my camera when I go to matches but I haven't been to many matches this year. The picture to the right is New Albany's team taken after last night's match between New Albany and St. Charles.
May 6, 2010: Interesting matches last night. Looks like I actually did have a reason to be confused about one of the Sectional seedings (but anything can happen on any given day).
In the Top Players category, it was Diaz over Cempre, Carter beating Bennoui, and Benalcazar winning a tight three-setter over Buchanan (CA).
Watterson is really picking up steam.
May 5, 2010: The answer to the poll question, "What team's school page is accessed the most?", is (in order): Upper Arlington, Dublin Jerome, New Albany, Columbus Academy, and Olentangy Liberty. The poll takers had NA - first, UA - second, CA - third, and OL and DJ tied for fourth.
Please be aware that another large group of users are in Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon's coach, Jeff Jarosz, asked me if they could point from their high school tennis site to mine. I told him that was fine as long as I knew. The goal of my site is to recognize the players, raise awareness of high school tennis, and get more people to the matches. Hopefully, it's been helpful to Mount Vernon.
How often do you think that you'll be done with a match by 6pm and then one court has a three-setter? That's the new poll question.
May 4, 2010: Wow. Huge amount of usage yesterday. The Sectional draws were a popular addition.
The big matches from last night included Diaz vs. Metka, Little vs. Harris, and Wareti vs. McClarren.
May 3, 2010: The Sectional draws are out and they are online here. I was surprised with a few of the decisions. I thought that some of the guys who chose doubles would play singles, and vice versa. The seedings were pretty solid, except for a doubles team or two. Should make for an interesting sectional.
Doubles were added to My Top Players list late last night.
May 2, 2010: It's Sectional draw day. Good luck with your draw strategies. In previous years, a small number of coaches had my tennis information and were well prepared for the draw. This year, hopefully you will all benefit from it.
I'm hoping to get the draws from Dan Witteman and Mike O'Callaghan after the draw meetings so that I can get them online tonight. If this works out, rather than go to Kinkos to copy sectional draws for the team, coaches can direct the players to go online.
Most of the "beginning of the season" articles were published a few weeks ago. Exceptions include articles for Canal Winchester, DeSales, Grove City, Hartley, and Westland. You may click on these links for these articles.
A doubles specialist list will be added to the Top Players list in a few hours. Let me explain what it represents. This list is not about the second or third best singles player who happens to play doubles once in a while. I tried to identify about five players who played doubles in Districts last year and who primarily played doubles matches during the season. I'll look at this list again after I see the draws. There have been over 700 different doubles combinations to-date, and I may have missed a player or two who deserves to be among the players that I listed. Coaches, please give me a heads-up, if I've missed someone.
May 1, 2010: There was a surprisingly busy Friday with numerous great matches. Central Ohio was 1-1 versus Cincinnati yesterday. UA beat Sycamore 3-2 and St. X. beat Columbus Academy 3-2.
In individual matches, it was Bennoui vs. Nakayama and Reinhart (SYC) vs. Weldon.
For the first time in five years of handling tennis data, I encountered my first tie in a dual match. Rather than ruining my Saturday trying to determine how to handle this in my database, I recorded the individual matches as tournament matches. My vote would be to have the coaches play a tiebreak if this happens again.
April 30, 2010: Just in time for Friday afternoon in the office where it's too early to leave and too late for you to start anything new... A new report, Central Ohio Graduates Playing College Tennis, was added for you to see how the local area players are competing in college. It is going to take time to completely "fill in" this report with information but it's a start. Note that I am also linking to their college statistics. The idea behind it is to recognize these athletes for their efforts and to also help the current high school players understand where they might fit in skill-wise with D I-III players, just in case they have an interest in playing college tennis.
I am also going to allow these players to advertise at no charge on my site. If you want to see how your game compares with theirs, please contact one of these college players and give them some pizza money to hit with you.
Coaches, if you have missed a match or two, please get them into me quickly so that all of the data is current before the Sectional Draws this weekend.
There was a large number of matches last night -- 22. Many were very competitive with nine matches going 3-2. From a top player perspective, it was a fairly quiet night with just Carter vs. Nakayama. Tonight, a couple of Cincinnati teams are coming to Columbus -- St. X vs. Academy and Sycamore vs. UA. Coffman plays New Albany.
April 29, 2010: The biggest individual matches last night included Diaz vs. Bennoui, Carter vs. Metka, and Weldon vs. Stein. I will make changes in the order of my Top Players' list in a couple of days.
New pictures for Thomas Worthington and Dublin Jerome are online. Both were taken at the Worthington Cup. Please keep those pictures coming(!).
The Singles and Doubles Results that are sorted in match order are now sorted so that the most recent matches are first. This should save you some scrolling time. The report that is Sorted by Court remains the same. I think it makes it easier to understand lineup changes when it is sorted that way.
April 28, 2010: Last night was a big tennis night with 25 matches. There were several interesting matchups including: Metka vs. Nakayama, Diaz vs. Harris, and Benalcazar vs. McClarren. Tonight's matches include New Albany vs. Watterson, UA vs. Dublin Jerome, and Bexley vs. Thomas Worthington.
Recent college choices include Benalcazar (Dayton) and McClarren (Case Western).
April 27, 2010: It had to happen eventually. Yesterday was a rainout.
One score was added from Sunday - St. Xavier beat New Albany. Include St. X's Ryan Bandy as one of the favorites for D1 singles. Obviously, St. X will be a favorite for the team championship, too.
April 26, 2010: Unlike other spring sports where it is possible to identify the top central Ohio performers by looking at their batting averages or best times in the 100 meter dash, it is more difficult to identify the best tennis players. My Central Ohio Top Players List is the approach that I am using to recognize the area's best singles players. There are approximately 550 boys playing singles this spring, and this list includes the 30 boys (top 5%) who are at the top of my list. The boys who focus on doubles will be added soon.
Those teams that have players on my list now have an indication of this on their Team Results reports.
April 25, 2010: The rain didn't stop play for long yesterday. The Worthington Cup was completed with Upper Arlington winning the event. UA (Billy Weldon-Stu Little) won the doubles championship, while Worthington Kilbourne (Kevin Metka) won the singles crown.
For all of the results, click here. The results for each school are also listed under their Boys-Team Results reports. Thanks to Thomas Worthington's coach, Tyler Stephen, for the information.
Hope to see you at the OSU Women's Match against Northwestern at noon.
April 24, 2010: The weather doesn't look good for the Worthington Cup. Hope they get to play a few matches.
I will link the Boys-Team Results report to the My List of Top Singles / Doubles report later today to make it a bit easier to navigate the site.
April 23, 2010: Please note that I made significant changes to My List of Top Singles / Doubles report. Not only does this report look better than the old one (yes, the old one looked awful), but it also contains links to TennisRecruiting.Net and USTA.com. If you have recent digital pictures of the players, please pass them along.
Please join us tonight for the OSU Women's match against Wisconsin at 6pm. Admission is free. The match will be at the Varsity Indoor Tennis Center just off of Henderson Road.
| Year | # Dual Matches Played as of 4/21 |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 246 |
| 2009 | 121 |
| 2008 | 186 |
| 2007 | 172 |
| 2006 | 212 |
April 22, 2010: Hopefully we will have good weather for the Worthington Cup this Saturday. The tournament includes a number of great programs.
We have been extremely fortunate with the weather this year in comparison with previous years. When I say "fortunate", I mean that it hasn't even been close. The weather has been incredible this year. My son graduates from high school and we finally get great weather. . .
April 21, 2010: Great win for Centennial last night as they defeated Wellington in a close match. DeSales also beat St. Charles in a big league match.
Please put two dates on your schedule. The OSU Women's team plays on Friday (April 23) at their new Varsity Indoor Tennis Center at 6pm against Wisconsin. On Sunday (April 25), OSU plays Northwestern at noon also indoors. This will be UA's Kirsten Flower's last home match as a Buckeye. Dublin's Kate Turvy will be playing for Northwestern.April 20, 2010: Yesterday was a huge day with numerous great matches including Carter vs. Weldon, Diaz vs. Enslen, Metka vs. Bennoui, and Wagner vs. Thai. The results and my rankings are here under the title of "Top Central Ohio Boys".
Upper Arlington remains undefeated after their win versus Olentangy Liberty. 55% of the people guessed the correct match-score in the poll, which was 4-1. Two of the matches went three sets.
Please get those pictures into me. I'm sure that there is a parent or two who could help by taking a picture of the boys before they take the court. If you want me to take your team's picture before your match, please let me know. I'm close to Riverside Hospital so it's easy for me to swing by Whetstone, Centennial, Watterson, or UA.
April 18, 2010: Thanks to all who are supporting the sponsors.
April 17, 2010: In an effort to increase the attendance at the OSU vs Illinois Men's Tennis Match, I have modified the graphics today. Click on the won / lost image and it will take you to the OSU site for more information about the match. Also note the new poll capability.
April 15, 2010: New pictures are online for the St. Charles and Upper Arlington boys teams and the Hartley girls team. Photos that you are submitting to me do not have to be the "official" team picture (as was the case with both SC and UA). Just provide me with the "more official" team picture when you receive it and I'll post it. I want to get more pictures up quickly so I'm willing to go through this process twice.
April 11, 2010: Welcome to the remodeled, Gerber Analytics, LLC, tennis site. The goal for this site is to recognize the local players and teams and to increase the awareness of high school tennis in the Central Ohio area. For many local teams, you will find:
- team picture
- team schedule / results
- match results for every match reported to the Dispatch (plus others that are reported directly to me)
- map and directions to courts
- links to other news sources
- high school graduates playing tennis in college
This information is obtainable using the navigation bar list above.
High school coaches and fans will find this site to be useful to "scout" upcoming opponents. College coaches will hopefully use the site to identify prospects.
The data will be updated daily during the work-week and generally once during the weekends.
It also contains the data for all of the Girls 2009 season.
Hopefully this site will increase the number of fans attending high school matches and increase the level of interest in high school tennis.
The other purpose for this site is to generate revenue so that I can justify continuing with this project. There was substantial effort spent on creating this site and more time will be spent to keep it updated. There are four ways in which websites make money: impose membership fees (i.e. Wall Street Journal or JJHuddle), sell a product or service (Amazon or E*Trade), sell sponsorships, and / or generate "click-thrus" on ads.
It is a common misconception that websites generate money from simply posting ads. That's not the case. Please visit the sponsors of interest.
The goal is to provide this information to the widest group of users, including friends and relatives. Please share this site with your friends and family.
Disclaimer: All opinions and commentary expressed by Gerber Analytics, LLC are solely Gerber Analytics, LLC's and they do not reflect the opinions of advertisers presented on the Gerber Analytics, LLC website.
While care is used in entering and maintaining the tennis-related data, errors will occur. These errors could originate from Gerber Analytics, LLC or from one of the providers of the data. If you identify an error, please contact Gerber Analytics, LLC via a Feedback message or ask your high school coach to contact Gerber Analytics, LLC in order to have the error corrected.
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