District Draws |
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| Central - Division I | Northwest |
| Central - Division II | Southeast |
| Northeast | Southwest |
Ohio High School Tennis
January 26, 2012: Columbus has been chosen by the USTA to be a target market for the new "10 and Under" tennis program. This program uses modified equipment and courts to get the young players off to a great start. If you would like to know more about this program, please plan to attend a meeting held by the Greater Columbus Tennis Association and the USTA on February 16 at 6:30pm at the Martin Janis Center. The center is located on the edge of the Ohio State Fairgrounds at 600 E. 11th Ave. This is a very big deal for Columbus. For more information, please refer to the Greater Columbus Tennis Association web site.
January 16, 2012: The college tennis season is underway. There are two college matches that will generate more local interest than normal. The Ohio State men's team will play Butler at 10am on Wednesday, and then OSU will play Xavier later in the day at 6pm. The matches will be held at the Ohio State University Varsity Indoor Tennis Center.
Ohio State's team includes the following Ohio players: Chase Buchanan, Chris Diaz (Watterson), Peter Kobelt (New Albany), Wyatt Lippert (Lakota West), Devin McCarthy (Indian Hill), and Kevin Metka (Worthington Kilbourne). Butler's team includes: Ruben Geeraert (Dayton), Tommy Marx (Shaker Heights), and Billy Weldon (Upper Arlington). Xavier's team includes: Freddy Abunku (West Chester), Patrick Bandy (St. Xavier), Philip Diaz (Watterson), and Marc Pretorius (St. Xavier). Click on the links to go to the Gerber Analytics' list of college players from central Ohio.
December 21, 2011: The big Midwest Indoor Holiday Championship starts on December 26. This is the perfect tournament for high school players to test themselves against college players and crafty veterans. This tournament has a family / class reunion atmosphere and it is one of the best tournaments of the year. Click on the link above for more information. The deadline to enter is today.
November 23, 2011: As many of you know, I spend a great deal of time on high school academic performance. The moment after the high school season ended, I started devoting about 95% of my time 
on this year's Ohio Graduation Test analysis.
A summary of the Top Academic Ohio High School document was mentioned in today's Cincinnati Enquirer. If you get the Enquirer, it is below the fold on the first page of the Local section.
To read Jessica Brown's entire article, click on this link or on the image to the right. This is the third year that the Enquirer has provided a summary of the report.
November 10, 2011: Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger and Sarah Stein received the high honor of 
being listed in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" section. The link is here. Congratulations to Lauren and Sarah.
The last central Ohio tennis player recognized by Sports Illustrated was Kate Turvy in 2007. Kate's SI link is here. Kate now plays college tennis for Northwestern.
One of our central Ohio coaches, Thomas Worthington's Jill Fergus, is involved with a very worthy charity called, Fairy Goodmothers. The charity collects gently used prom dresses and accessories from those who no longer need them, and they distribute them to girls who do not have the means to purchase them. It's a great cause. If you are interested in helping in some way, please check out their web site at: www.fairygoodmothers.org.
November 5, 2011: There was a great article in today's Columbus Dispatch about the state cross country event's move from Scioto Downs to National Trails Raceway. The article talked about the incredible tradition that runners and fans cherished at Scioto Downs and why the move was necessary.
While it is great that the other Ohio high school sports have terrific traditions and great venues, it also makes you realize how short-changed Ohio's female tennis players have had it over the last few years as the event was punted over to Hilliard Davidson. Let's hope that the new Ohio State University Outdoor Varsity courts will be available for use from this point forward -- even on football Saturday's -- and if OSU's courts are not available, a championship level venue is found. I would argue that Ohio's female tennis players deserve the same level of recognition and respect that the female cross country, soccer players, etc. receive. If venues matter for the other sports, then the OHSAA should insure that Ohio's female tennis players receive the same level of consideration.
The Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) information is time sensitive so I continue to focus my efforts on that endeavor. Even though the girls tennis season is over, I will occasionally include tennis updates after I complete the OGT work.
October 31, 2011: I am now completely immersed with the education project as I process the Ohio
Graduation Test results. (The results are better this year.)
Here are three memorable pictures from States.
Note in the first picture that there is a red car behind the car that is being pushed. This was on the south side of the building.
The crowd picture was taken at 10:30. Moving the Division 2 doubles outside was a big help with the crowd.
The third picture shows what happened to the red car.
October 28, 2011: My favorite tennis blog is zootennis. The owner of the blog is Colette Lewis, and she emails her insightful comments at seven o'clock each morning. She writes on a variety of tennis topics, but mainly focuses on high-end juniors, college, and pros. One recent interesting post covered the process of learning and it dealt with Daniel Coyle's book, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How. Coyle also has a blog and here is one recent posting about an alternative to his "10,000 hour rule".
If you are serious about tennis, the zootennis blog is an absolute requirement. Just enter your email address on her site to get your free daily email update.
Now that the high school season has largely ground to a halt, I will provide you with a way to be alerted of any new updates. Look for this feature in the next few days.
October 27, 2011: There are many ways to identify the Central District's best coaches. The criteria could include: won/lost records; improvement of players during the season; records against teams of similar ability; number of kids with great academic results; number of players reaching Sectionals / Districts / States; number of college players from the school; etc.; etc. One non-subjective way to evaluate coaches is to see how well their players performed in three-set matches.
| School | Coach | Wins | Losses | Total 3-Setters | Winning % |
| Pickerington North | Brian Hoff | 6 | 0 | 6 | 100% |
| Dublin Jerome | Tyler Stephen | 6 | 0 | 6 | 100% |
| Upper Arlington | Shaun Stamps | 9 | 2 | 11 | 82% |
| Hilliard Darby | Erika Little | 4 | 1 | 5 | 80% |
| Dublin Scioto | Mike Wrigley | 4 | 1 | 5 | 80% |
| West | James Murray | 5 | 2 | 7 | 71% |
| Groveport | Doug Ewart | 5 | 2 | 7 | 71% |
| Buckeye Valley | Art Haus | 7 | 3 | 10 | 70% |
| Teays Valley | Laura Culbertson | 6 | 3 | 9 | 67% |
| Reynoldsburg | Les Somogyi | 9 | 6 | 15 | 60% |
| Gahanna | Chris Schwinnen | 6 | 4 | 10 | 60% |
| Mifflin | Jared Weyand | 3 | 2 | 5 | 60% |
| Newark | Rob Hayes | 3 | 2 | 5 | 60% |
Why three-set matches? The reasons include: the competition is of similar ability; three-setters take place near the end of the match when the coach is not occupied with four other matches; and the coach has had time to evaluate the strengths and weakness of the opponents and advise his or her players on the best strategy.
Congratulations to the coaches included in the table. Each had a 60% or better winning percentage in three-set matches. (Five additional coaches had winning, three-set records.)
Being on this list every once in awhile is probably better than never being on it, but again, it is just one of many different ways of looking at the season. Personally, if I were on this list, I would sprint to my AD's office and use it as definitive evidence of my great coaching ability; otherwise, I wouldn't.
There were 304 three-set matches. Twenty-five of these "three-set" matches were actually super tie-breaks, and they were not included (because no coaching takes place prior to the super tie-break). Only those coaches who had five or more three-setters were included. Please also note that not all results may have been reported.
October 26, 2011: The school teams that had players in the post season now have updated team pages. There are also a few new photos on the Top Players List. The top central Ohio coaches list will be out early this afternoon.
October 25, 2011: Here are a couple of pictures from the OTCA tournament. These are the trophy pictures of the Dublin Jerome and Lexington teams. The Dublin Jerome picture is courtesy of William 
Sheley.
I am in catch-up mode for the next few days.
October 24, 2011: Dublin Jerome won the Division 1 Ohio Tennis Coaches' Association (OTCA) Team Championship. Lexington won the Division 2 crown. All of the results are here and in the table above.
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| Dublin Jerome vs. Ursuline Academy |
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| Lexington vs. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy |
The first video shows the championship point for the Dublin Jerome versus Ursuline Academy match. The deciding court was Emma Schnell-Mara Sheley defeating Ursuline Academy's Grace Kallenberg-Diane Suarez, 6-2, 6-2.
The second video is the championship point between Lexington and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. Lexington's Dragon-Earnest defeated CHCA's Bolsinger-Hawker on court 2 doubles, 6-2, 7-5, to win the championship.
October 23, 2011: Tennis was outstanding at Elysium yesterday for the State Tournament. For all of the results, go to the OHSAA.org site. Newspapers that covered the event include this article from Steve Blackledge for the Columbus Dispatch. He summarized Dublin Jerome's win. Other articles from around the state are available via the following links: Cincinnati Enquirer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Toledo Blade.
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| Division I - Doubles |
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| Division II - Doubles |
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| Division I - Singles |
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| Division II - Singles |
The State Team Championships will be held today at Hilliard Davidson. Play starts at 9am, and the Division 1 teams will start things off. Dublin Jerome and Columbus Academy represent the Central District.
The championship point of the Division 1 doubles match is to the right. Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger-Sarah Stein defeated Watterson's Katie Shepherd-Lauren Ghidotti. Note that this is a high-def video so the image can be expanded to fit your screen. Click on the picture to view the video.
The next video is for the Division 2 doubles championship. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's Dominique Baxter-Holly Dahmus defeated Shaker Heights Laurel's Alison Blitz-Danielle Buchinsky.
The third video is for the Division 1 singles championship. Ursuline Academy's Mehvish Safdar defeated Mount Notre Dame's Sandy Niehaus.
The last video is for the Division 2 singles where West Holmes' Rachel Nelson defeated Lexington's Courtney Earnest.
October 22, 2011: People were packed into Elysium for States. All of the results are on the OHSAA.org site.
States will remain at Elysium today. The acrylic sealer on the courts at the new Ohio State University Outdoor Varsity Tennis Courts needs more time to cure.
The OSU courts were open when I drove by at 6pm yesterday so I took the opportunity to walk on all of the courts and take a few more pictures. Again, the facility looks amazing. Unfortunately though, there is a major issue with the sight lines for the stands that overlook the six courts. Being able to constantly see a sideline during a football game is not critical because most of the action is in the middle of the field. That is not the case for tennis. Fans want to see both players striking the tennis ball. To do this, fans have to be able to see several feet "this side" of the baseline.
I took the picture sitting in the last row of the stands. Since a person sitting in the first row will be higher than the railing, no fans sitting behind this person will be able to see the near player or the baseline. To fix this, the rise of the seats needs to be greater, the courts need to be further away, or the stands need to be lower. This sight-line probably works for football, soccer, field hockey, etc., but it does not work for tennis. Anyone who wants to see - will need to sit in the first row.
The sight-line issue is also a problem with the indoor tennis facility. If someone sits in the red, front row seats, then those sitting in the stands have problems seeing the closest courts.
The Dispatch's Steve Blackledge wrote an article in yesterday's paper about States. It is here.
I'm leaving now for States. The individual school reports will not be updated with yesterday's action until later this afternoon.
October 21, 2011: States has been moved to Elysium Tennis. Elysium is located at 7637 Commerce Pl, Plain City, 43064. Click for directions. Click for Elysium's web site. Their telephone number is 614-873-8749.
We were at the OSU Varsity courts at 6:55am, and the OHSAA officials were hanging signs to direct people to Elysium.
Parking is going to be a huge problem because the Elysium lot is not large and because fans cannot park in the neighboring business lots. The best approach will be to park along the road and walk. The good news is that it is no longer raining.
The last Area Coaches' Poll of the season is shown to the right.
| Area Coaches' Poll - October 20, 2011 | |
| Division I | 1. Dublin Jerome; 2. Upper Arlington; 3. New Albany; 4. Watterson; 5. Hilliard Bradley; 6. Olentangy Orange; 7. Pickerington Central; 8. Dublin Coffman; 9. Olentangy Liberty; 10. Hilliard Davidson |
| Division II | 1. Columbus Academy; 2. Columbus School for Girls; 3. Worthington Christian; 4. DeSales; 5. Bexley; 6. Hartley; 7. Wellington; 8. Grandview; 9. Village Academy; 10. Fisher Catholic |
Articles about the local teams who have participants going to the State Tournament are at ThisWeekSports.com. The school name links go directly to the articles: Bexley, Columbus School for Girls, DeSales, Dublin Jerome & Dublin Coffman, Hilliard Bradley, New Albany, Olentangy Orange, and Upper Arlington.
October 20, 2011: The nets are up! The Ohio State University tennis facility is ready to roll. Hopefully, we'll start State's day with dry (or drier) weather.
Several of Ohio's newspapers have written articles about the State qualifiers from their areas. They include: Cincinnati Enquirer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Toledo Blade, and Akron Beacon Journal.
October 19, 2011: Whetstone won the City League Championship yesterday. Whetstone defeated Eastmoor Academy for the title.
Top Academic Ohio High Schools (w/links to school and league reports) |
| St. Charles Preparatory |
| Ursuline Academy |
| Seven Hills |
| Columbus School for Girls |
| University |
| Hathaway Brown |
| Hawken |
| Maumee Valley Country Day |
| Walnut Hills |
| Columbus Torah Academy |
At the end of each tennis season as activity winds down, I promote my other major interest which is education. While tennis and the other sports are certainly fun, the kids go to school for an education. While the Ohio Department of Education does a great job with their Report Cards, I found these reports to be lacking because they do not allow for easy comparison among the schools in the same area. To remedy this, I created my own education reports that compare the schools within their own sports league. Academic champions are identified for each league. I also maintain a list of the Top Academic Ohio High Schools. (The top ten are shown to the right.) As with the league reports, this list includes both public and private high schools. These reports are the only place online that provide private school Ohio Graduation Test performance. This data reflects the 2009-2010 school year. I will start on the 2010-2011 as soon as the data is available.
Education reports for over 80 sports leagues and 800 high schools are available via the Education Home page. Please submit a Feedback if you have any questions about the education data.
October 18, 2011: Dublin Jerome defeated Upper Arlington in the OTCA D1 Final.
The Ohio State University courts are looking great. This picture is from the stands that overlook six courts. In the distance, beyond the scoreboard, are the four additional courts.
The Division 1 draws for States are here. The Division 2 draws are expected to be posted today.
The picture of the D1 State Qualifiers is below. Again, paying members need to look for me on Friday for your 6x8 photo.
Even though the picture at Hilliard Davidson was taken roughly two hours before the D2 picture, note the difference in apparel. As everyone (and I mean absolutely everyone) in tennis is aware, Davidson has gale force winds when there is a breeze any place else in Franklin County. It is very unfortunate that the OTCA is playing the State Team Tournament at Hilliard Davidson when the brand new, wind resistant Ohio State University facility is available.
October 17, 2011: The OTCA Division 1 Final between Dublin Jerome and Upper Arlington will be held today at the U.A. courts at 4:15. Jerome is #1 in the state poll and UA is #2.
Speaking of polls, there were insufficient coach votes to submit a Area Coaches Poll last week. After tonight's match, please update your votes (or vote for the first time) for the top ten teams in Division 1 and Division 2. Please sign-in to see the results of each team's match.
I just received a picture of the Division 1 state qualifiers courtesy of the Ghidotti family. The picture will be online later today. If other districts would like to recognize their players who made States, please send them to me via email and they will be posted online.
There are substantial changes underway on the My List of Central Ohio's Top Players page. I do not have the capability to maintain records of doubles players during the year so to recognize the area's best doubles players, I include those players who reached the second round of Districts.
October 16, 2011: It was a busy and windy day of tennis yesterday. The Central District now has its field set for States. The seeds for singles and doubles for the Division I and Division II state qualifiers are listed in the table.
| Seed | Division I | Division II |
| 1 | Anna Sanford, Olentangy Orange | My Linh Li, DeSales |
| 2 | Emma Stein, Dublin Jerome | Rachael Morales, Bishop Hartley |
| 3 | Cristina DiLorenzo, New Albany | |
| 4 | Ash Thenappan, Dublin Coffman | |
| Seed | Division I - Doubles | Division II - Doubles |
| 1 | Lauren Bellinger-Sarah Stein, Dublin Jerome | Becca Landon-Lindsey Staub, Bexley |
| 2 | Katie Shepherd-Lauren Ghidotti, Watterson | Lauren Gerber-Tiffany Lau, Columbus School for Girls |
| 3 | Lauren Thai-Ashley Thai, Hilliard Bradley | |
| 4 | Elaine Cloern-Audrey Berger, Upper Arlington |
The picture of the Central District Division II State qualifiers is shown below. I will be distributing the picture at States on Friday to paying members so please look for me. I hope to have the Division I players' picture up later today.
The information on the Team Pages is not yet updated. Look for updates later today.
October 15, 2011: I do not have time for a full update from yesterday's action. That will be done later today. Good luck to the girls in the seeding round.
Division 2 doubles got rained out at Columbus School for Girls. The singles players did finish though and DeSales' My Linh Li and Hartley's Rachael Morales qualified for States.
Those in D1 who qualified in singles are: Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford, New Albany's Cristina Di Lorenzo, Dublin Jerome's Emma Stein, and Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan. The D1 doubles qualifiers are: Watterson's Katie Shepherd-Lauren Ghidotti, Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern-Audrey Berger, Hilliard Bradley's Ashley Thai-Lauren Thai, and Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger-Sarah Stein.
Once again, the wind at Hilliard Davidson made it one of the worse places on earth to play tennis. There was one report of a girl preparing to hit a forehand and by the time the wind was done with the ball, the girl could barely reach it with a backhand. When considering that the Southwest District plays at the ATP site, the Central District can do better for the kids who play tennis. The wind is expected to be worse today at Hilliard Davidson so make sure that you tie down your car.
October 14, 2011: There was one match yesterday. Columbus Academy defeated Worthington Christian in the Division 2 OTCA Final.
It looks like the courts are drying. The start of the Division 2 matches was delayed until 10am. The Columbus School for Girls tennis facility is very secluded which makes the courts slower to dry. Hilliard Davidson is anything but secluded. Since it is windy at our house (near Riverside Hospital), then that means that the asphalt might be blowing away at Hilliard Davidson.. Those who like playing in wind are going to be very happy at Davidson today.
The draws for the Southeast District are now available via the link above. Thanks to Mr. Dawson for providing these.
October 13, 2011: There were no matches last night.
Here are today's pictures of the Ohio State University Courts. This is what Districts is all about. Who will get to play at the new OSU courts on October 21?
Good luck at Districts tomorrow.
October 12, 2011: There were several matches played yesterday as teams wrap-up the dual match season. Dublin Coffman defeated Pickerington Central; Columbus Academy beat Seven Hills; Big Walnut defeated Whetstone; Dublin Scioto beat Pickerington North; and Westerville South defeated Briggs. In OTCA play, Upper Arlington defeated Hilliard Bradley.
Platform tennis is gaining in popularity in central Ohio as an outdoor, winter, racquet sport. The strokes are very similar to tennis and it can be played comfortably all winter long. If you would like to learn more about the sport, there is a major platform tennis tournament in Columbus this weekend. It features the top eight teams in the sport including Columbus' own Brian Heil and Denny English. The tournament will run from 10am-4pm on Saturday, and the semi's and finals will be held at 9am on Sunday. There are free clinics on Friday from 5-6pm, 6-7pm, and 7-8pm. (Email Denny English at djpenglish@yahoo.com
to participate in a clinic.)
The tournament will be held at Scioto Country Club and admission is free. Perfect weather for platform tennis is 20-25 degrees with gray skies. Yes, this sport is ideal for Ohioans.
Please welcome Jill Fergus as an advertiser. Jill is the coach of the Thomas Worthington Girls Team, and she is also a real estate agent on the north side of Columbus. You will see her ads on the Thomas Worthington, Worthington Kilbourne, Olentangy, Olentangy Liberty, and Olentangy Orange team pages. If you have a web site and you offer products or services that appeal to tennis fans, players, and their parents, other ads spots are available for purchase. Purchasing an ad is also another way to support this web site endeavor if you think this site benefits central Ohio tennis. Ad creative help will be provided upon request. If you have questions, please submit a Feedback or contact me via email.
October 11, 2011: There were four matches last night. Pickerington Central defeated Watterson; Columbus School for Girls beat Bishop Hartley; Eastmoor Academy defeated Centennial; and Dublin Scioto beat Big Walnut.
Among the top players, Watterson's Katie Shepherd defeated Pickerington Central Nithya Raya and Pickerington Central's Kyah Thomas beat Watterson's Courtney Brown.
Let's do another Central District coaches' poll for the Dispatch. If you are a coach, please vote for the Top Ten teams in the Central District. If you are not a coach, that's fine, too. There is an "All Voters" list as well.
October 10, 2011: The Sectional seeding round was finished yesterday. The Bexley doubles team of Becca Landon-Lindsay Staub defeated Columbus School for Girls' Lauren Gerber-Tiffany Lau in the finals. There were two Columbus Academy teams in the finals with Annie Lavin-Meghana Vallabhaneni defeating Deepa Manda-Neela Nataraj.
2011 Case Western
Men Players (l-r): Trent Searfoss (Davidson), Alex Solove (Liberty), Kyle Gerber (St. Charles), Ben McClarren (Davidson), Sean Carr (Upper Arlington)
If your daughter is a senior and she would like to play college tennis at any level, please send me a Feedback message as soon as possible. This information is being made available to college coaches. (Those with sons who are seniors should do the same.)
Most of the central Ohio graduates who play college tennis compete in Division 3. Approximately 46 players compete in D3 versus 18 in Division 1. The university with the greatest number of central Ohio players is Otterbein with eleven players followed by Case Western Reserve with eight. I took the picture of the men on the Case team this weekend and their picture is to the right.
Upper Arlington High School has the most number of college players with seven, followed by New Albany with five.
For specific information on each player's college record, click for the College page.
October 9, 2011: At this point in the season, the focus tends to shift more toward the individuals and doubles teams for each school.
To earn the first seeds in the Division 1 singles draw, Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford defeated Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power; Dublin Jerome's Emma Stein beat Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan; Watterson's Courtney Brown defeated Tri-Valley's Dempsey; and New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo beat New Albany's Jane Haffer.
The number one seeds for Division 1 doubles are: Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger-Sarah Stein; Watterson's Katie Shepherd-Lauren Ghidotti; Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai-Ashley Thai; and Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern-Audrey Berger.
The Division 2 one seeds for singles are: DeSales' My Linh Li and Columbus School for Girls' Linda Yang. The doubles will be played today due to the observance of Yom Kippur on Saturday.
To get to States, players commonly need to be very good and to be a bit lucky with the draws. The Central District draws are typically released on Monday. When I see them, I will include them in the upper-right-hand corner.
October 8, 2011: There were no matches yesterday. Today is the seeding round for Districts for most players.
Posted below are pictures of the Ohio State University's new tennis facility, which is where States will be played on October 21. These were taken yesterday evening.
October 7, 2011: We had a great day of Sectional play yesterday with 285 matches being played (plus the "rat tail" matches). Most players arrived at 
their sites before 8am, and the Columbus School for Girls site finished the day under the lights at approximiately 8pm.
Teams that obtained the largest number of District spots (where one spot equals one singles player or one doubles team) included: Dublin Jerome (5), New Albany (5), Upper Arlington (4), Columbus School for Girls (4), Watterson (3), and Columbus Academy (3).
Please note that to see all of the matches for some teams, it will be necessary for you to sign-in with your Trial or paying account.
The starting times for the seeding rounds for Districts will vary by site. Yom Kippur is on 
Saturday so some teams will play on Sunday.
I took pictures of five tennis teams playing at Columbus School for Girls yesterday. New pictures are now online for Buckeye Valley, Eastmoor Academy, Madison Plains, River Valley, and Village Academy.
Pictures for Eastmoor Academy (top) and Buckeye Valley are listed to the right.
Congratulations to all of the girls who competed in Sectionals and to those girls who earned a spot for Districts.
October 6, 2011: It's time for Sectionals.
Yesterday, Worthington Christian defeated Bexley, 3-2, in the OTCA tournament. Upper Arlington beat Watterson; Whetstone defeated Centennial; and Groveport Madison beat Watkins Memorial.
Dublin Jerome won the Ohio Capital Conference-Central Division, and Olentangy Liberty was second.
In the finals of the OCC tournament, Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger defeated Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power.
I will be at the Columbus School for Girls' site today. If you would like for me to take a picture of your team for inclusion on the web site, please look me up.
October 5, 2011: The Ohio Capital Conference tournaments were played yesterday. Of the tournaments reporting scores, Upper Arlington won the Central Division; Pickerington Central won the Ohio Division; and New Albany won the Capital Division. In OTCA play, Columbus Academy defeated Columbus School for Girls, 3-2.
Among the top players, Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford defeated Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai; Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan beat Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern; Pickerington Central's Nithya Raya defeated Gahanna's Kiara Shaw; and Hilliard Bradley's Ashley Thai beat New Albany's Jane Haffer.
The Sectionals are tomorrow. Click for the Division 1 and Division 2 Sectional draws. Please note that I will not be accepting aces for the Ace Report during the first round of Sectionals. The day is already too hectic and there can be large disparities in skills.
October 4, 2011: Rain was intermittent in central Ohio yesterday with just eight matches recorded. Dublin Jerome defeated Pickerington Central in an OTCA match. Other matches included: Lexington defeated Watterson, Dublin Coffman beat DeSales; and Grove City defeated Grandview.
Among the players on My List of Central Ohio's Top Players, DeSales' My Linh Li defeated Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan; Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger beat Nithya Raya; Lexington's Courtney Earnest defeated Watterson's Katie Shepherd; and Dublin Jerome's Sarah Stein beat Pickerington Central's Kyah Thomas.
Tonight, Columbus Academy plays Columbus School for Girls in the OTCA Tournament.
October 3, 2011: The wet weather continues as teams try to wrap up their seasons.
For those coaches who are paying members, another benefit of Gerber Analytics is that you may request the results of all of your matches "by player" to share with your players and their parents. Please give me at least 48 hours notice if you would like this end-of-season report. To see the entire New Albany report from last year, click here. Coaches may still join Gerber Analytics by clicking here.
October 2, 2011: The Mid-State League at Teays Valley played their tournament yesterday. The Ohio Capital Conference and the other Mid-State League Tournaments were rained out. Tuesday was mentioned as the make-up date.
Most of the teams were comfortably huddled in their vehicles yesterday, but when Central Crossing braved the elements, I took their picture. It is to the right.
Most users (89%) had the correct answer to the poll question. The Dublin Jerome girls tennis page has received the most interest, followed by: Upper Arlington, Pickerington Central, New Albany, Hilliard Bradley, Columbus School for Girls, and Dublin Coffman (in that order). Since the beginning of the season, Dublin Jerome has received 45% more page views than UA. While UA has 10% more page views than third place, Pickerington Central.
Please cast your vote for the ten best teams in central Ohio. If there are enough new votes, I will submit the results to the Dispatch. Click here to vote. You must be a Paying or Trial member to vote.
October 1, 2011: There were no matches yesterday. This could be a damp day for the OCC and 
Mid-State tournaments.
Rather than go outside in the drizzle today, a few tennis fans will be coming to this web site. The usage of the Gerber Analytics' tennis site has been very brisk this season. The number of pages viewed by readers is more than double the number from last year. The number of unique users is almost three times what it was last season. Most of the readers view four and a half pages and spend five minutes each time that they visit the site. The number of page views and the amount of time of each visit is slightly lower than last year, but that is actually what I am striving for by providing more relevant information on each page. In a sense, I want you to be more productive with your leisure time. [Some unnamed spouses may say that G.A. allows you to waste your time more effectively.]
The map to the right shows the location of the usage. While most of the usage is in central Ohio, Gerber Analytics is also heavily used in the Northeast and Southwest Districts. Almost all of the usage is in Ohio, but there are also active readers in Pennsylvania, New York, California, Michigan, and New Jersey.
The Tennis Home page receives the most activity, but the team reports also get a large amount of usage. Today's poll question is: Which team has received the most usage so far this season (August 15 to September 30)?
September 30, 2011: There were several great matches last night. Dublin Jerome defeated Upper Arlington. Olentangy Liberty beat Olentangy Orange to win the battle of the Olentangy's. Other matches included: Hilliard Bradley defeated Bishop Hartley; Grove City beat Thomas Worthington; Hilliard Davidson defeated Dublin Scioto; Hilliard Darby beat Delaware Hayes; and Grandview defeated Jonathan Alder.
The top players were active. Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger defeated Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern; Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford beat Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power; Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai defeated Bishop Hartley's Rachael Morales; and Dublin Jerome's Sarah Stein beat Upper Arlington's Audrey Berger.
The Central Ohio Graduates Playing College Tennis page has been updated. Newspapers provide this information for football and basketball players who are competing in 
college, but this information is not readily available for our local tennis players. There are 53 athletes included.
Please be aware that this is the most painful report to update because the college web pages are always being redesigned (this causes the links to change). Some of the information has also not been updated for the 2011-2012 season. The link attached to the player's name should take readers to the player's bio or roster information on the college site. The "College" column link takes users to the college's tennis web site. The "Stats" column link takes users to statistics for the team or player. If there are other central Ohio players not included, please submit a Feedback. High school pictures are also still being accepted.
The OCC's and Mid-State League tournaments are tomorrow.
September 29, 2011: In last night's action, Bloom-Carroll defeated Whitehall; Newark beat Granville; Briggs defeated Mifflin; Canal Winchester beat Fisher Catholic; and in OTCA play, Hilliard Bradley defeated Pickerington North.
Tonight's matches include Dublin Jerome versus Upper Arlington and Olentangy Orange versus Olentangy Liberty.
Progress on the Ohio State University courts continues. I stopped by and took a few pictures in the rain yesterday, and there were still a few people at work at 7pm. In the first picture, the indoor football facility is to the left. The second picture was taken from the other direction. You can see the brick column (by the white truck) in both pictures.
September 28, 2011: A few matches were sneaked in between rain drops. Pickerington Central defeated Olentangy Orange; Lancaster beat Westerville North; Granville defeated Fisher Catholic; and Marion-Franklin beat Briggs.
Among the top players, Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford defeated Pickerington Central's Nithya Raya.
Now that the college season is underway. Look for changes in the College Players from Central Ohio page soon.
Tonight's matches include: Hilliard Davidson versus Lancaster; Watterson versus Pickerington Central; and Pickerington North versus Olentangy Liberty.
September 27, 2011: The matches were rained out last night.
Links to the Sectional draws will remain in the upper-right hand corner of this page to provide easy access.
Matches previously scheduled for tonight include: Pickerington Central versus Olentangy Orange; Bishop Hartley versus Columbus School for Girls; Columbus Academy versus Grandview; and Worthington Kilbourne versus Upper Arlington. At this point in the season, always confirm scheduled matches before making the trip.
September 26, 2011: Obtaining and scanning the Sectional Draws is a multi-hour process. The Paying and Trial members got the first look at the draws. Now they are available to everyone else.
September 25, 2011: Dublin Jerome won the Lexington Invitational with Upper Arlington coming in second. Hartley won the Wellington Cup and Wellington came in second.
Among the top players, St. Ursula's Kennedy Shaffer defeated Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern.
The Sectional Draws are today.
Tomorrow's matches include: Watterson versus Bexley; Columbus Academy versus Columbus School for Girls; Dublin Coffman versus DeSales; and Pickerington Central versus Hilliard Davidson.
September 24, 2011: One match was reported yesterday -- Watkins Memorial defeated Briggs.
The most recent picture 
posted is for one of the Olentangy schools. Can you guess which one?
The girls continue to add to their ace totals. The four leaders of the ace race are: Ashley Thai, Anna Sanford, Lauren Thai, and Jane Haffer. (Hover over the names to see their pictures.) To view the entire ace report, click here.
A recent addition to the Top Central Ohio Girls report is Aashika Katapadi of Wellington.
Upper Arlington was scheduled to play Watterson on Monday but that match was rained out. 66% of the voters thought that Upper Arlington would defeat Watterson. That is one match that is hopefully going to be rescheduled. Please give me a heads-up when you hear of a new date.
September 23, 2011: Matches from last night included: New Albany beat Watterson; DeSales defeated Bexley; Hilliard Davidson beat Olentangy Liberty; Olentangy Orange defeated Dublin Coffman; Lancaster beat Chillicothe; and Dublin Jerome defeated Hilliard Bradley.
Among the top players, DeSales' My Linh Li defeated Bexley's Becca Landon; New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo beat Watterson's Katie Shepherd; Watterson's Lauren Ghidotti defeated New Albany's Jane Haffer; New Albany's Vitellas beat Watterson's Courtney Brown; Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern defeated Gahanna's Kiara Shaw; Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power beat Hilliard Davidson's Mackenzie Donalson; Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford defeated Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan.
The all-important Sectional Draws are on Sunday. I hope to have the Sectional Draws online on Sunday night.
[Note: I noticed errors with some of the Game Winning % on the Top Ten Girls Teams report. They have been corrected. You may notice that some of the numbers have changed.]
September 22, 2011: Just eight matches were recorded from yesterday as rain hampered play. Grove City defeated Hilliard Darby, 3-2, in a match that included two 3-setters. Other matches included: Pickerington Central beat Hilliard Davidson and Bexley defeated Wellington.
Among the top players, Wellington's Aashika Katapadi defeated Bexley's Becca Landon.
Work continues on the new Ohio State University courts. This picture is from one week ago. The courts will be ready for the OHSAA state tournament.
Tonight's matches include: DeSales versus Bexley; Olentangy Orange versus Dublin Coffman; Hilliard Bradley versus Dublin Jerome; and New Albany versus Watterson.
September 21, 2011: It was a huge night for tennis. There were 21 matches played. Upper Arlington defeated Dublin Coffman; Pickerington Central beat Reynoldsburg; Columbus School for Girls defeated DeSales; Worthington Kilbourne beat Thomas Worthington; Central Crossing defeated Westland; and Olentangy beat Westerville North.
Among the top players, Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan beat Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern; Wellington's Aashika Katapadi defeated Columbus Academy's Andrea Ballinger; and Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger beat Westerville Central's Taylor Todd. Look for more changes to the Top Players List.
Gerber Analytics is increasingly becoming the way in which fans, friends, family, and college coaches 
obtain information about high school tennis teams. Please put your best foot forward and make sure that your team picture, roster, and schedule are updated. To see how your school is presented to those who use Internet search, just type in your school name into Google to see what links are displayed.
Matches tonight include: Columbus Academy versus New Albany; Hilliard Davidson versus Olentangy Orange; Pickerington North versus Westerville Central; and Olentangy Liberty versus Reynoldsburg.
September 20, 2011: One match was reported -- Bexley defeated Fisher Catholic.
The Area Tennis Coaches' Poll was included in the Dispatch today. Thanks to all who voted. The poll results are included in the table.
| Division I | 1. Dublin Jerome; 2. Upper Arlington; 3. New Albany; 4. Watterson; 5-tie. Hilliard Bradley; 5-tie. Pickerington Central; 7. Olentangy Orange; 8. Dublin Coffman; 9. Hilliard Davidson; 10. Olentangy Liberty. |
| Division II | 1. Columbus Academy; 2. Columbus School for Girls; 3. Worthington Christian; 4. DeSales; 5. Bexley; 6. Hartley; 7. Wellington; 8. Grandview; 9. Village Academy; 10. Fisher Catholic. |
To cast your own vote (as a coach or fan), click here.
Please note that the Coaches' Poll votes are now prominently displayed at the top of the Top Ten Tennis Teams report. The aggregation of All Voters is listed below the Coaches' Poll.
The Dispatch posted the State Poll today. The Division 1 schools in central Ohio that are listed include: 1. Dublin Jerome; 2. Upper Arlington; 4. New Albany; 10. Watterson (with several ties). In Division 2, Columbus Academy is listed as 6th.
There are several good matches scheduled for tonight. They include: Upper Arlington versus Dublin Coffman; Pickerington Central versus Reynoldsburg; and Columbus School for Girls versus DeSales. Especially at this point in the season, always confirm the match with a coach or player before you make a trip to the courts.
September 19, 2011: There are several great matches planned for today. They include: Worthington 
Christian versus Thomas Worthington; Upper Arlington versus Watterson; and Reynoldsburg versus Dublin Coffman. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
Since Worthington Christian already beat Worthington Kilbourne, the Worthington Christian versus Thomas Worthington match will be for Worthington bragging rights.
I plan to stop by the UA versus Watterson match. It will be held at Upper Arlington's courts.
September 18, 2011: There were two invitationals yesterday and a couple of dual matches. Westerville Central won the Hilliard Davidson Doubles Classic, and Hilliard Davidson came in second. Logan Elm won the Grandview Invitational, and Whetstone was the runner-up. In the dual matches, both Dublin Jerome and Upper Arlington beat Toledo Central Catholic.
Unfortunately, the Dispatch's coaches poll to the right is not for tennis. It is for golf. We could do the same thing for tennis and this would attract more interest to our sport, but we still have not had an adequate number of people (especially coaches) vote. If you have not yet voted for the Top Ten teams in the Central District, please do so. While the current top ten list is a solid group of teams, please also consider Lancaster, Whetstone, Gahanna, Reynoldsburg, Big Walnut. and Pickerington North for Division 1 and Fisher Catholic, Buckeye Valley, and Eastmoor Academy for Division 2. Click here for the current list of Top Ten Central Ohio Tennis Teams.
The UA Fall Open is coming up on September 24-25 at Upper Arlington High School. For further information or to register just click www.cogp.com/uaopen.html. While this is primarily a boys and adult event (because it is during the girls tennis season) there are divisions for Girls 10s and Girls 12s. This event is a fundraiser for Upper Arlington tennis team. Please contact the tournament director, Walt Thieman, with any questions.
September 17, 2011: There were four matches reported today. Hilliard Bradley defeated Dublin Coffman; Dublin Scioto beat Upper Arlington-B; Marion Harding defeated Delaware Hayes; and Dublin Scioto beat DeSales (in a match that took place on Thursday).
Among the top players, Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai defeated Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan.
The Top Players List is still in flux (as it always is). The order has been changed and another player (Dublin Jerome's Emma Stein) was added. As stated in the Frequently Asked Questions, since we are looking at the same information, hopefully each player on my list will be within three or four spots of yours. Order changes will tend to be made gradually and the quality of the wins and losses are considered.
Congratulations to those who thought that "beat" was more overused than "defeated" on this page. In the battle among beat versus defeated versus versus, beat defeated defeated 142 to 123 and versus was beaten by both with just 45 occurrences. As a numbers guy, I would prefer to use the ">" sign to indicate a victory, but I'll probably stick with defeated and beat.
September 16, 2011: We are nearing the half-way point of the season with 309 dual matches having been played so far. The interesting matches from last night included: Worthington Christian defeated Worthington Kilbourne; Olentangy Liberty beat Dublin Coffman, and Bexley defeated Upper Arlington - B.
Among the top players, Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power defeated Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan.
Please keep those pictures coming! The photo to the right is a recent addition. It is a picture of the Bishop Hartley team.
This weekend, the order of the Top Players list will be adjusted and there may be another name or two added to the Watch List. The individual match detail portion of the Top Teams Report will also require at least a Trial membership.
Note -- The Upper Arlington versus Watterson match was moved to Monday.
September 15, 2011: Interesting matches from yesterday included: Watterson over Olentangy Orange; Dublin Coffman bested Pickerington North; New Albany over Olentangy Liberty; Columbus School for Girls bested Bexley; and Gahanna over Hilliard Davidson.
The order of the Top Players will be changed over the weekend. Yesterday's matches included: Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power defeated New Albany Cristina DiLorenzo; Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger beat DeSales' My Linh Li; Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford defeated Watterson's Katie Shepherd; and Hartley's Rachael Morales beat Wellington's Aashika Katapadi.
Tonight's good match-ups include Dublin Coffman versus Olentangy Liberty and Worthington Kilbourne versus Worthington Christian.
College coaches are provided with free access to Gerber Analytics to help them recruit central Ohio players. I have a new report coming online soon that will provide them with a list of all seniors who have shown interest in playing college tennis. Please make sure that your player's online status reflects her interest.
September 14, 2011: Yesterday's "good match-ups" list yielded the following results: Olentangy Orange defeated Hilliard Bradley; Columbus School for Girls beat Worthington Christian; Olentangy Liberty defeated Westerville Central; and Bexley beat Grandview. Gahanna also defeated Reynoldsburg, 3-2.
Among the best players, Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford defeated Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai; Hartley's Rachael Morales beat Watterson's Katie Shepherd; Ash Thenappan defeated Worthington Kilbourne's Kelley Jiang; and Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power beat Westerville Central's Taylor Todd.
Good match-ups tonight include: Gahanna versus Hilliard Davidson; Pickerington North versus Dublin Coffman; Bexley versus Columbus School for Girls; Olentangy Orange versus Watterson; Olentangy Liberty versus New Albany.
In the readers' poll of the Top Ten Teams, Dublin Coffman switched places with Olentangy Liberty in Division 1. In Division 2, Columbus School for Girls jumped in front of Bishop Hartley, and Grandview replaced Village Academy in eighth place.
September 13, 2011: The "3-2" matches from last night included: Bexley over Hartley; Ready defeated Centennial; and Worthington Christian over Upper Arlington-B. In the OTCA tournament, Dublin Jerome beat Watterson, 3-0.
There was considerable action among the top players. Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern defeated Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai; UA's Audrey Berger beat Bradley's Ashley Thai; Westerville Central's Taylor Todd beat Pickerington Central Kyah Thomas; and Dublin Jerome's Emma Stein beat Watterson's Courtney Brown.
Tonight's good match-ups include: Westerville Central versus Olentangy Liberty; Worthington Christian versus Columbus School for Girls; Olentangy Orange versus Hilliard Bradley; and Bexley versus Grandview.
September 12, 2011: Work continues on the Top Ten Teams report. Paying and Trial members will be 
presented with the individual matches that each team has played, along with the score and game winning percentage of all matches. This is generally the type of information that I use when I rank teams and I thought it might help others as well. The order will be adjusted in the next day or two.
All of the data on the report will be shown to all users for the next few days to encourage more Trial and Paying member sign-ups. [See if you can find the hint in the previous sentence.]
Please note that it is still worthwhile to retrieve the detailed records from the team reports to view the line-ups for each team. In some cases, the coaches of the best teams will sit out a player or two against the teams with less experienced players to allow others to play.
September 11, 2011: It was a great day for tennis yesterday. Olentangy Orange won the Reynoldsburg Doubles Invitational, which included eight central Ohio teams. DeSales and Reynoldsburg finished second and third. respectively. Upper Arlington and Columbus Academy both played Cincinnati's Wyoming. UA won 5-0 while Columbus Academy was defeated 4-1. Springboro (located near Middletown) also played two strong central Ohio teams. Dublin Jerome won 5-0 and New Albany defeated Springboro, 3-2
Among the top players, Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger defeated Springboro's Aundrea Busse; Aundrea Busse beat New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo in 3 (long) sets; and Columbus Academy's Andrea Ballinger defeated Wyoming's Ashley Berg. [Yes, Ms. Busse's first name is spelled correctly.]
Tomorrow's matches include: Upper Arlington versus Hilliard Bradley; Bishop Hartley versus Bexley; and Pickerington Central versus Westerville Central.
September 10, 2011: There were several interesting matches last night. Mount Notre Dame defeated Watterson; DeSales beat Granville; and Pickerington Central defeated New Albany. The DeSales and Pickerington Central matches were OTCA Tournament matches.
Among the top players, Mount Notre Dame's Sandy Niehaus defeated Watterson's Lauren Ghidotti; Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern beat Worthington Kilbourne's Kelley Jiang; New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo defeated PIckerington Central's Kyah Thomas; and on court two singles, Pickerington Central's Nithya Raya beat New Albany's Jane Haffer.
There are several great dual matches today, plus the Reynoldsburg Doubles Tournament.
September 9, 2011: Rain (and the threat of rain) reduced the number of matches played. Six matches were recorded. The "3-2" matches included: Ready over Central Crossing and Bexley over Reynoldsburg.
The "Which school will win the City League?" poll that was released on 9/1 is now closed. Whetstone edged Centennial.
The girls will be busy this weekend. Columbus Academy and Upper Arlington will both be playing Cincinnati-area Seven Hills and Wyoming tomorrow. Reynoldsburg is also having its doubles tournament.
September 8, 2011: The Diaz Family would like to thank everyone who participated in the Mary Diaz and Bill Copeland, Jr. Memorial PanCAN Tennis Tournament this summer. A record, 169 players 
participated in this fun doubles tournament. Over $50,000 was raised to support pancreatic cancer research and patient programs. The tournament was held at the Ohio State recreational courts facility located beside Ohio Stadium.
Please jot a note on the back of this year's calendar that next year's PanCAN will be held July 20-22, 2012.
The tournament t-shirt was modeled by the players in the picture. The first person who guesses the players, gets something of potential value. Submit a Feedback with your guess.
There was only one match reported last night. Centennial defeated Mifflin, 4-1.
September 7, 2011: Last night's matches were as good as advertised. Watterson defeated DeSales; Hilliard Davidson beat Dublin Coffman; Worthington Christian defeated Hartley; and Pickerington North beat Lancaster.
Among the best players, DeSales' My Linh Li defeated Watterson's Katie Shepherd; Westerville Central's Taylor Todd beat Olentangy's Megan Brdicka; and Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan defeated Hilliard Davidson's Mackenzie Donalson.
If the weather holds, tonight's matches include: Bexley versus Hilliard Davidson; Grandview versus Buckeye Valley; and Olentangy Liberty versus Olentangy Orange.
September 6, 2011: West Holmes defeated DeSales over the weekend.
West Holmes' Rachel Nelson beat DeSales' My Linh Li.
Great matches scheduled for tonight include: DeSales versus Watterson; Dublin Coffman versus Hilliard Davidson; Hartley versus Worthington Christian; and Pickerington North versus Lancaster. All of these teams are included in the individual votes of the Top Ten Teams report. Always double check the schedule with a player or coach prior to going to a match.
September 4, 2011: There was just one match played yesterday. Upper Arlington defeated Rocky River Magnificat.
Speaking of UA, Jim Flower has created a great web site that highlights UA's past and present tennis programs. Click here to
access the site.
It's time to watch the US Open!
September 3, 2011: The Top Ten Teams report is updated. Dublin Coffman moved into the Top Ten in Division 1. Hartley moved up two spots in Division 2. This report is still in flux. Links to the team reports were added to the school names to make it easier to do your own research. Pictures were included for the teams that have provided them. If you would like a picture of your team to be shown, please ask your coach to send one to me.
There were no matches held last night.
September 2, 2011: There were several big matches last night. Dublin Jerome beat New Albany; Bexley defeated Worthington Christian; and Reynoldsburg beat Westerville South.
Of those girls on My Top Players List, Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger defeated New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo and Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power beat Upper Arlington's Audrey Berger. Another player or two will be added to the list this weekend and the order will be revised.
If two more people vote in the Top Ten Teams report, I will re-aggregate the results today. Please feel free to vote on whatever division you know the best. If are you most comfortable with Division 1, then that's fine - just vote on that division.
September 1, 2011: The matches are getting better as teams get deeper into their schedules. Watterson defeated Columbus Academy (three, 3-setters); Hilliard Bradley beat Westerville Central (four, 3-setters); and Thomas Worthington defeated Watkins Memorial (two, 3-setters).
The top players were active in matches against each other. Watterson's Katie Shepherd defeated Columbus Academy's Andrea Ballinger; Watterson's Lauren Ghidotti beat Columbus Academy's Hannah Wexner; Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai defeated Westerville Central's Taylor Todd; New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo beat Dublin Coffman's Ash Thenappan; Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford defeated Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger; and Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power beat Pickerington Central's Nithya Raya.
The Top Ten Girls Teams report proved to be very popular yesterday, and the number of new voters are growing. Please note that while members can see any new votes that are cast on a real-time basis, the votes are not aggregated on a real-time basis. If there are new voters today, I'll aggregate the votes again tonight for tomorrow's release.
There are too many good matches tonight to list. View the Upcoming Match report for an update. Note that this report is currently still available to non-members.
August 31, 2011: There were numerous, close matches yesterday. They included: DeSales over Hartley; Westerville Central defeated Dublin Scioto; Big Walnut beat Delaware Hayes; and Hilliard Davidson over Worthington Kilbourne.
Among the top players, Hartley's Rachael Morales defeated DeSales' My Linh Li, and Dublin Jerome's Sarah Stein defeated Olentangy's Megan Brdicka.
There is a new report today. It is a user poll of the best teams in the Central District. This is strictly in beta (test) mode, but you can get an early look at it. Paying and Trial Members may vote and see all of the results. Non-members may view the aggregate results. Click for the Top Ten Girls Teams - Central District report.
August 30, 2011: In last night's matches, Hilliard Davidson defeated Olentangy Orange in the OTCA Tournament; Dublin Coffman beat Dublin Scioto; Worthington Christian defeated Grandview Heights; and Marion Pleasant beat Delaware Hayes.
It is not too late to enter the Ace race. The Ace Report is mainly for fun, but it does identify the players who have a serve weapon. There are four girls who have separated themselves from the rest: Ashley Thai and Lauren Thai of Hilliard Bradley, New Albany's Jane Haffer, and Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford. Let's see if the service returners can step up and slow down their ace count.
The league matches are starting. Tonight's matches include: Columbus Academy versus Bexley; Watterson versus Columbus School for Girls; Hartley versus DeSales, and Granville versus Grandview.
August 29, 2011: There were several new pictures taken at the Watterson Invitational. New pictures 
are online for the following teams: Watterson, Hilliard Bradley, Dublin Coffman, Bexley, and Worthington Kilbourne. Hilliard Bradley's team picture is to the right.
There is a new voting feature that will be released soon. Paying and Trial members will be able to vote for the teams they think are best. Don't be a disenfranchised voter! Sign-up now as a paying or free, Trial member.
Tonight's matches include Dublin Coffman versus Dublin Scioto, and Grandview Heights versus Worthington Christian. Tuesday will be a monster tennis night.
August 28, 2011: There were several tournaments yesterday. Olentangy Orange won the Teays Valley tournament, Upper Arlington won the Canfield doubles tournament, and New Albany won the Watterson Invitational. In other action, Dublin Jerome beat both Lexington and UA-B. Columbus Academy was defeated by Indian Hill.
Many of the top players had great matches with each other. Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford defeated Hartley's Rachael Morales; New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo defeated both Watterson's Katie Shepherd and Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai (in a super tie-break); Lexington's Courtney Earnest beat Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger (in a super tie-break); and Watterson's Lauren Ghidotti beat Hilliard Bradley's Ashley Thai (in a super tie-break).
There were some changes to My Top List of Central Ohio's Top Players. More changes are to come.
In tomorrow's matches, Dublin Coffman plays Dublin Scioto, and it is Grandview Heights versus Worthington Christian.
Thanks to John Stechschulte for providing the UA scores in typed form.
August 27, 2011: Only two matches were played yesterday. Worthington Christian defeated Village Academy and Worthington Kilbourne beat Grove City in a D1 OTCA match.
The girls on my top players list were inactive.
In addition to the Watterson Invitational at the Park of Roses, Columbus Academy is playing Indian Hill. Upper Arlington is also hosting Lexington and Dublin Jerome at their courts.
August 26, 2011: It was a big tennis day yesterday. There were 23 matches played. Reynoldsburg had a tightly contested match with Pickerington North, and Canal Winchester had a great match with Ready.
The Top Player's List is in need of adjustment but there are still players on the list who have not yet played this season. Watch for a few girls to be added and for changes in the order in the next few days. Occasionally, parents of players offer suggestions (typically involving their own daughters) via Feedback. That's fine, but what I look for are tightly contested matches against other singles players on the list. Obviously, earning wins over other players on the list are great, but having "6-4, 6-4" losses to top players are also noticed.
Of the girls on my list who did play yesterday, Hartley's Rachael Morales defeated Columbus Academy's Andrea Ballinger, Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford beat New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo, Pickerington Central's Nithya Raya defeated Gahanna's Kiara Shaw, and Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power beat Olentangy's Megan Brdicka.
Thank you for the sign-ups. Please note that due to considerable fraud in the past, email addresses will be checked prior to providing full access. This may take a few hours if I am not by my computer.
The big, Watterson Invitational takes place this weekend at the Park of Roses' courts. Please look me up if you attend.
August 25, 2011: The 3-2 matches from last night included Hartley over Village Academy, Jonathan Alder defeated Delaware Hayes, Thomas Worthington beat Groveport Madison, and Hilliard Bradley over Columbus School for Girls.
In yesterday's poll, Columbus Academy narrowly led DeSales in the voting for the top central Ohio D2 team. Academy defeated DeSales yesterday 4-1 in a tightly contested match.
Among the top players, DeSales' My Linh Li defeated Columbus Academy's Andrea Ballinger.
Interesting matches tonight include New Albany versus Olentangy Orange, Columbus Academy versus Hartley, Gahanna versus Pickerington Central, and Reynoldsburg versus Pickerington North.
To view all of this year's results for a specific school, sign-up for a Trial Membership. It is free.
August 24, 2011: The close matches from last night included: Gahanna over Lancaster and London over Teays Valley.
Among the top players, Dublin Jerome's Lauren Bellinger defeated Olentangy Liberty's Sydney Power and Upper Arlington's Elaine Cloern beat Worthington Kilbourne's Kelley Jiang.
Your eyes are not getting better -- the team pictures are just a bit bigger on the team report pages. Speaking of team pictures, there are several new ones, including: Worthington Christian, Reynoldsburg, Westerville North, DeSales, and Dublin Jerome. If you would like your varsity team to be recognized online, please send a note that you have a picture via Feedback along with your email address. I will be at the Watterson Invitational this weekend so please speak up if you would like a picture taken of your team.
August 23, 2011: In the "I'm sorry I didn't get my homework done" match of the evening, the Big Walnut versus Jonathan Alder match included four, three-setters. Big Walnut won 3-2. Other great matches included Hilliard Bradley over DeSales, and Gahanna Lincoln defeated Bexley.
Among the top players, Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai defeated DeSales' My Linh Li in three sets. Both players won the same number of games (16).
Tonight there will be a large number of matches. The interesting matches include Hilliard Davidson versus Thomas Worthington, Olentangy Liberty versus Dublin Jerome, and Pickerington Central versus Pickerington North.
August 22, 2011: In tennis, everything is relative. Your opponent is your track, your golf course, or your swimming pool. Unlike in many other sports, tennis does not provide competitors with a way in which they can measure their performance against others by using times or strokes per course.
As a partial solution, a new report was launched this fall to make comparisons easier for players on the same team 
or against their competition. The new Dual Match Results by Court report includes the players side-by-side along with the Game Winning Percentage of each court. The report above is for Bexley's winning, 3-2 match against Wellington. Looking at 1st Doubles as an example, Bexley's doubles team of Fechtor-Wirthman defeated Wellington's Espirit-Perkins by a score of 6-2, 6-1 and their Game Winning Percentage was 80%.
Over the course of a season, coaches can use this report to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various teams in order to fine-tune their line-ups.
This feature is part of the Girls Team Results report and many tennis fans will print just this portion to take to matches. Details for all of the matches for all teams are available for $14.95. Those with Trial memberships can obtain the details for one team.
August 21, 2011 4:00pm Update: The paywall is now active. To receive all of the results for the girls season, please sign-up and become a Gerber Analytics member for $14.95. If you are only interested in tracking the results of one team, you may obtain a Trial Membership at no additional cost. The membership for coaches is $24.95. All email addresses are validated prior to providing access. If you have any questions, please submit a Feedback.
Join now for in-depth information on all of the central Ohio teams. Click to Sign-up.
August 21, 2011: There was plenty of tennis played yesterday. Dublin Jerome dominated the Columbus School for Girls Doubles Tournament, winning the tournament and all four flights. In other action, New Albany defeated both Westlake and Lakota East, while Hilliard Bradley was defeated by Westlake and Lakota East. Walsh Jesuit defeated Columbus Academy in a close, 3-2, contest that included two, three-set matches.
Among the top players, Westlake's Lauren Golick defeated both New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo and Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai.
The four flight winners in the Columbus School for Girls Tournament were: A) Sarah Stein-Lauren Bellinger; B) Emma Stein-Caitlyn Merzbacher; C) Emma Schnell-Mara Shelley; and D) Maddie Easdale-Sofia Gomez.
August 20, 2011: There were just two matches played yesterday. Reynoldsburg defeated Watterson's Varsity B team and Whetstone beat Briggs.
The Columbus School for Girls Doubles Tournament will be held today at their Kirk Campus.
There are still many players who have not yet competed so there will be no changes to the Top Players List for a few more days.
August 19, 2011: Over the weekend, access will be restricted to each team's two most recent matches. Please sign up for either a $14.95 girls season membership or for a Trial membership. The $14.95 members will continue to have access to all of this seaon's data. Trial members will have access to one specific school (and this should be restricted to the "home" school).
Two of the stronger D1 teams played last night. New Albany defeated Hilliard Bradley, 4-1. In other action, Columbus Academy beat Sycamore. The 3-2 matches included Fisher Catholic over Ready and Buckeye Valley over River Valley.
Among the top players, New Albany's Cristina DiLorenzo defeated Hilliard Bradley's Lauren Thai and Columbus Academy's Andrea Ballinger defeated Sycamore's Samantha Kruger.
Watterson will be playing Reynoldsburg tonight. On Saturday, the Columbus School for Girls will have its doubles tournament.
August 18, 2011: In a battle for Hilliard, Bradley defeated Davidson, 3-2. Other 3-2 matches included: Big Walnut over Westerville South, Bexley over Wellington, and Reynoldsburg over Athens.
Most of the season kick-off articles from ThisWeekSports.com are now available. Click on the team reports to access these links.
Tonight is going to be busy. Several of the good match-ups include Columbus Academy versus Cincinnati Sycamore, Hilliard Bradley versus New Albany, and Thomas Worthington versus Upper Arlington.
August 17, 2011: It was another nice day for tennis. The "3-2" matches included Olentangy Liberty over Gahanna, Hamilton Township over Central Crossing, and Logan over Amanda-Clearcreek.
Many of the schedules are now online. To view upcoming matches, select "List of Upcoming Matches" from the "More Stats/Info" navigation bar. Good match-ups for tonight include: Hilliard Bradley versus Hilliard Davidson and Olentangy Liberty versus Worthington Kilbourne. The schedule information is sourced directly from the coaches and from ThisWeekSports.com.
The first aces of the season were reported with Olentangy Orange's Anna Sanford taking the early lead. The Girls Ace report is also available under the "More Stats/Info" navigation bar.
August 16, 2011: There were seven matches played yesterday. Lexington defeated Columbus Academy, while North Canton Hoover defeated both Bexley and Columbus School for Girls.
Among the top players, Lexington's Courtney Earnest defeated Columbus Academy's Andrea Ballinger in three sets.
The transitioning to this school year is still underway. Numerous schedules will be added today. My List of Central Ohio's Top Players will be adjusted by the end of the week.
Get those arms loosened up. The Ace Race is underway.
August 14, 2011: High school matches begin tomorrow. The switch from the 2010 to 2011 seasons takes a bit of time because the information flow is a bit slower than what it is for the beginning of the 
boys season.
The pricing for the web site continues to evolve as I try to find the right combination of a free membership for the casual user and a higher price for the tennis enthusiasts and coaches. The plan for the girls season is to offer four tiers:
- Free - No sign-in necessary for limited information for all teams
- Free Trial Membership - Sign-in is necessary and all of the information is provided for one school, and limited information is shown for the rest. At some pont, the number of logins per season may be limited but that is still to be determined..
- $14.95 - Sign-in is necessary and this year's information is provided for all schools
- $24.95 - This is for coaches only. Sign-in is necessary and it provides a number of features to assist coaches do their jobs. Information for more than one season will be available (soon).
Click on Member Sign-up to select the best pricing tier for you.
For the next couple of days, everyone has access to a new, all-inclusive report that provides a far more detailed view of how players perform in dual matches and greater insight on how a coach sets his/her line-up. To view the report for Bexley, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.
Aces will be tracked for the girls season just as they were last year. There were many positive comments about this last year because it encouraged the girls to focus and work on their serves. Obviously there are times in which going for an ace may not be the right thing to do -- players need to seek guidance from their coach on this.
Please send a Feedback if you have any questions.
August 9, 2011: There is more USTA National Championship news. Colette Lewis wrote about the Chris Diaz - Bjorn Fratangelo match her ZooTennis blog. It is too bad that was not scheduled to be a five set match.
Only Yale Goldberg remains in the front draw of the Boys 16/18 championships.
August 8, 2011: The USTA National Championships continue at their respective locations. In Kalamazoo, Chris Diaz was defeated in the front draw today by Bjorn Fratangelo in *three* sets. That name may be familiar to some of you. Fratangelo was the French Open Junior Champion this year. Click on the links for more information.
August 7, 2011: The USTA National Championships for the various age groups are underway. These are very prestigious events and the list of players below includes previous (and likely future) state champions.
| Competitor | Event | City | Tournament Location |
| McNally, John | B12 | Cincinnati | North Little Rock, AR |
| Thomas, Danny | B12 | Canal Winchester | North Little Rock, AR |
| Wolf, JJ | B12 | Cincinnati | North Little Rock, AR |
| Hirsch, Asher | B14 | Cincinnati | San Antonio, TX |
| Indrakanti, Deepak | B14 | Cincinnati | San Antonio, TX |
| Cepeda, Miguel | B16 | Mason | Kalamazoo, MI |
| Dunbar, Jacob | B16 | Medina | Kalamazoo, MI |
| Goldberg, Yale | B16 | Beachwood | Kalamazoo, MI |
| Buffington, Colton | B18 | Westlake | Kalamazoo, MI |
| Diaz, Christopher | B18 | Columbus | Kalamazoo, MI |
| Mueck, Zachary | B18 | West Chester | Kalamazoo, MI |
| Desiatnikov, Abigail | G12 | Gates Mills | Alpharetta, GA |
| Dunbar, Emily | G12 | Medina | Alpharetta, GA |
| Rohrbacher, Olivia | G12 | Sandusky | Alpharetta, GA |
| Sanford, Alexandra | G12 | Westerville | Alpharetta, GA |
| Thomas, Emily | G12 | Cincinnati | Alpharetta, GA |
| Dilorenzo, Francesca | G14 | New Albany | Peachtree City, GA |
| Safdar, Mehvish | G14 | Mason | Peachtree City, GA |
| Shaffer, Kennedy | G14 | Rossford | Peachtree City, GA |
| Stein, Emma | G14 | Dublin | Peachtree City, GA |
| Wolf, Danielle | G14 | Cincinnati | Peachtree City, GA |
| Broda, Brooke | G16 | West Chester | San Diego, CA |
| Myers, Olivia | G16 | Belmont | San Diego, CA |
| Nelson, Rachel | G16 | Big Prairie | San Diego, CA |
| Sanford, Anna | G16 | Westerville | San Diego, CA |
| Stone, Sierra | G16 | Powell | San Diego, CA |
| Davis, Lauren | G18 | Gates Mills | San Diego, CA |
| McPhillips, Kyle | G18 | Willoughby | San Diego, CA |
Please note that these players are traveling all over the United States to compete.
Players from the Central District are bolded. Players to watch from the Central District for the upcoming Ohio High School Girls season include: Francesca DiLorenzo (freshman at New Albany), Emma Stein (freshman at Dublin Jerome), and Anna Sanford (sophomore at Olentangy Orange). Sierra Stone from Powell trains in Florida, but does not play Ohio high school tennis.
The number of boys on this list from Central Ohio is lower than in previous years. Chris Diaz is the only high school representative. The Central Boys have recently had great runs at States, but this may be an indication of leaner years to come.
Yale Goldberg of University School (D2 - NE) did not play high school tennis last year as a freshman. It will be interesting to see if he does this spring. His brother, Mark, did play high school tennis for Beachwood.
Lauren Davis and Kyle McPhillips from the Northeast District competed at States as freshmen. (Davis won States.) Davis is now on the tour. McPhillips is a rising senior and competing all over the U.S.
August 4, 2011: In an effort to catch-up on some good tennis news, Columbus won the Midwest City Team Tennis Championship in July. The tournament was held in Indianapolis, and Columbus competed against teams from Indianapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Jasper (IN), and Madison (WI). Participants for the Columbus team were selected based on their performance in the Bernard Master Junior Satellite Circuit.
Olympic Indoor's Jim Criswell organized the event for Columbus and he was the head coach. Players representing Columbus included Ryan Wahl, Will Reynolds, Chloe Sidick, Emma Ferguson, Colton Clark, Alex Hulka, Jacob Kotik, Lexi Steer, Reagan Resor, Ty Holsopple, Austin Karbler, Mary Anne Click, Anna Marie Reynolds, Patrick Yen, Aaron Treglia, Alyssa Moreau, Paige Quinton, Blake Byrns, Eric Brunton, Meghan Letizia, and Lauren Gerber.
Max Quinton and Scott Gerber served as assistant coaches. For more details about the event, click here to go to the Olympic Indoor web site.
August 2, 2011: Welcome to the high school girls tennis season. Coaching began yesterday. Other key dates for the season are listed in the table to the right.
| Date | Event |
| August 15 | First Day of Competition |
| September 25 | Sectional Tournament Draw |
| October 3-8 | Sectional Tournament |
| October 10-15 | District Tournament |
| October 21-22 | State Tournament |
| October 22 | OTCA Tournament |
The good news is that both days of Girls States will take place at the new Ohio State University tennis facility that is under construction. If you would like to monitor OSU's progress, become a free trial member (or a paying member) and sign-in to the right.
If it has been too long since you last signed in and you have forgotten your password, please note that I have added a Forget Password? tool in the right navigation bar.
Please watch for new views of the data and for new capabilities this season.
July 19, 2011: This news is a bit dated but it is still good news. The Columbus area Davis Cup team beat the other USTA Ohio Valley teams to win the Ohio Valley Davis Cup competition. The group was coached by Tyler Stephen (Thomas Worthington Boys' and Dublin Jerome Girls' coach) and Steve Metzmaier (Worthington Kilbourne Boys' coach). For all of the details, click here.
The Mary Diaz and William Copeland, Jr. Memorial Tournament was a great success. The Diaz family extends its thanks to all who participated. More information and pictures from the event will be forthcoming.
July 14, 2011: The girls season is coming up soon. Please consider signing up for the Academy Open for competitive play. The details from Walt Thieman follow:
The Academy Open will begin on Monday, July 18. The junior divisions should be complete by Thursday with Friday morning as a rain date. The adult divisions will continue through the weekend with projected semis on Saturday and finals on Sunday. Registration for this event is on the www.cogp.com (Central Ohio Grand Prix) site. With the great setting at Columbus Academy located on Cherry Bottom Road in Gahanna this has been one of the premier stops on the Central Ohio Summer Circuit. Please consider participating. Any questions can be directed to Walt Thieman, Tournament Director, at the email address: wthieman 'at' hotmail.com.July 12, 2011: Sometimes it is hard to remember passwords.
If you are having problems with yours, click on the Forget Password? link under the Sign In button. You will need to provide the email address that you used when you signed up.
July 10, 2011: The Mary Diaz and William Copeland, Jr. Memorial Pancreatic Cancer doubles tennis tournament is this coming weekend. Thanks to all who have already signed up. To include even more players, the deadline has been extended to July 12. Click for more information.
Progress at the Ohio State University outdoor tennis facility continues. I purposely made the resolution of the picture dense so that users could "zoom in" to view it more clearly. I recommend zooming in 300%.
Readers who are not Gerber Analytics members may Sign Up for a Trial Membership to view it. There is no charge for the Trial Membership.
June 30, 2011: While all high school tennis coaches and fans are aware of the USTA, many are not aware of the grind that the players (and parents) have to endure to boost their USTA rankings. This 
article from ZooTennis is self-serving in some respects (because it summarizes my research), but it provides an overview of the points-per-round system that the USTA uses.
Players need to maximize their points in order to get into USTA tournaments and to get seeded. This involves significant travel time, travel expense, tournament entry fees, hard work, and luck.
Given the success (or lack there of) of American tennis, I hope that the USTA is now reviewing whether this wildly expensive (for the parents) points-per-round experiment yielded the results they expected.
As I have stated before, I am a big fan of Colette Lewis' ZooTennis blog site. If you closely follow the top junior and college players, you will enjoy this site. While you can bookmark this site on your browser, I encourage you to signup to receive her daily (7am) email updates. It is a great way to start the day.
MIDWEST CLOSED |
|
| Boys | Girls |
| B18 | G18 |
| B16 | G16 |
| B14 | G14 |
June 25, 2011: The all-important Midwest Closed will begin today. The draws for the various tournaments are in the table to the right. The boys and girls 16's and 18's are played at a huge, 32 court complex in Indianapolis. The 14's are played in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Those who excel at this tournament are invited to participate in the national championships for each age group.
June 21, 2011: As usual, I continue to experiment with this web site. The blurred picture is of the construction of Ohio State's new tennis courts. Existing Gerber Analytics members will need to "Sign In" to view it.
Readers who are not
Gerber Analytics members may Sign Up for a Trial Membership to view it. There is no charge for the Trial Membership.
Hopefully, the OSU courts will be available for the OHSAA State Girls Tennis Championships. As a frame of reference, the OSU football facility is to the left and the field hockey facility is to the right. This picture was taken on June 15.
If you encounter any problems with viewing the picture, please submit a Feedback message.
June 16, 2011: The Ohio Tennis Coaches' Association has named its first and second all-state teams. The list is here. If you recall from my previous blog postings, there needs to be more consideration placed on this list since the OHSAA / OTCA does not seed the players for States. A player such as a Michael Fredericka should not be excluded from the First Team All-State list just because he had to play the state champion in the second round.
Seeding the top four singles players in each division at States would not be hard with today's technologies and information sources. The USTA information could be very beneficial with this process. Please note that the USTA champions and runners-up who participated at States are highlighted in red in the table below.
Again, just focus on what is best for the players and the processes will fall into place.
June 15, 2011: All of the USTA Qualifiers are finished and the champions and runner-ups are in the table to the right. Many of the names in the table are recognizable from States.
| OVTA | Champion | Runner-up |
| B18 | Chris Diaz | Zach Mueck |
| B16 | Asher Hirsch | Patrick Wildman |
| G18 | Sandy Niehaus | Amanda Lin |
| G16 | Mehvish Safdar | Anna Sanford |
| Northeastern Ohio | ||
| B18 | Michael Fredericka | Maksim Kan |
| B16 | Aaron Sandberg | Jacob Dunbar |
| G18 | Courtney Earnest | Rachel Nelson |
| G16 | Ariana Iranpour | Kati Mdzinarishvili |
| Northwestern Ohio | ||
| B18 | Evan Bechtel | Jeffrey Schorsch |
| B16 | Alex Swick | Lucas Schaible |
| G18 | April Weaver | Drew Fillis |
| G16 | Lauren Ghidotti | Ashley LaFountain |
Others who finished strong from the Columbus metro area included Canyon Teague who was third in B16's and My Linh Li who finished third in G16's.
Note that the OHSAA Districts are not the same as for the USTA. Lexington's Courtney Earnest of the OHSAA Northwest District qualified from the USTA Northeast Ohio District; Watterson's Lauren Ghidotti of the OHSAA Central District qualified out of the USTA Northwestern Ohio; and West Holmes' Rachel Nelson of the OHSAA East District qualified from the USTA Northeast District.
Best of luck to these players and to the others who qualified for the Midwest Closed Tournament out of the Ohio USTA Districts. The Closed takes place on June 25 in Indianapolis for the 16's and 18's. College coaches from all over the Midwest will be in attendance.
June 13, 2011: The qualifiers for the Northeastern and Northwestern USTA Districts have finished. Since the Ohio Valley District is so much larger in area and in participation, the OVTA draws are in the quarter-final round. Click on the links below to follow the action. Also note that the links have been modified to create a new window within your Internet browser. This makes it easier to jump from draw to draw.
Northeastern Ohio |
|
Northwestern Ohio |
|
June 10, 2011: Links to the USTA Qualifiers in Northeastern and Northwestern Ohio are included to the right. The USTA Midwest Northwestern Ohio qualifier is underway for both genders. The Northeastern qualifier is also underway for the boys, but the girls finished their qualifier in May.
Another great tennis site is ZooTennis. It does an excellent job of covering high-end junior tennis and college tennis. Today, it includes mention of a good article by the Wall Street Journal on D3 tennis. This WSJ article specifically mentions Emory, which is where Wellington's Ian Wagner will be attending next fall.
Ohio Valley |
|
| Boys | Girls |
| B10 | G10 |
| B12 | G12 |
| B14 | G14 |
| B16 | G16 |
| B18 | G18 |
June 9, 2011: The all-important Midwest Qualifiers are taking place in a variety of locations throughout the USTA-Ohio Valley District for the Central players. The kids who play extremely well have an opportunity to play at the Midwest Closed.
The draws for the various age groups are starting to come out. Click on the links for the various age groups.
June 8, 2011: The High School Court Comparison document is done. In tennis, everything is measured relative to an opponent. For example, if a player gets beat 6-3, 6-3, then a congratulations is appropriate if he just got beat by a Chris Diaz-caliber player, because again, everything is relative.
What the Court Comparison document provides is a view of how an entire team performs during the season relative to all of its opponents by showing the game winning percentage of each court. For example, if Court 1 won 180 games and lost 120 games, then the game winning percentage would be 60%.
In a perfect world, a good team would have a chart similar to the one to the right. Obviously, this could never happen though because it would require that all of its opponents have line-ups that are proportionally stronger (or weaker) across all five courts.
As you review the document, it will also be obvious who the standout players and teams have been over the years. The list of players at the bottom of the each page is not meant to be exhaustive but to jog the memories of readers of those past teams and players. Also note that of those listed, they nearly always played in the same position each time.
There are (and always have been) "head-scratcher" line-ups (i.e. stacking) during the season and some charts will reflect this. Imagine the chart to the right having a 1st doubles team with a 40% game winning average and the 2nd doubles team with an 80% game winning percentage. That would obviously be a cause for concern. Again, please note that these charts are for an entire season -- not for a specific match. In many cases, they are also not for a specific player.
In terms of the "strategic line-up" issue, I have some ideas that may reduce this from occurring and I will share some of these ideas with the coaching leadership to get their perspective.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the charts via a Feedback.
June 7, 2011: I understand that some coaches provide their players with a keepsake list of all of their season's matches. Since this data is already on Gerber Analytics, it is just a matter of repackaging the data to present it on a "by player view". 
Since I prepared this for New Albany, I will extend the offer to other coaches who are members of Gerber Analytics. Please contact me by June 10 if you would like this information so that you can give it to your players. Since there is a fair amount of manual effort involved, I will ask that you make a small donation to PanCAN if you would like for me to do this for you.
I may consider providing this as part of the coach's offering next season.
June 6, 2011: There are numerous web sites for tennis players and fans. TennisRecruiting.net is a great, nationwide web site for kids who want to play college tennis at any level. All players are ranked within their class year using TennisRecruiting.net's proprietary system and that provides users with a reasonable understanding of a player's skill level. There are portions of the site that any user can see; other portions that require registration; and a premium area that carries a $7.95/month price-tag (or $49.95 annual fee). If you have (or your child has) any interest in playing college tennis, it is a requirement that you become well-acquainted with this web site.
TennisRecruiting.net is also indispensable to college tennis coaches as they monitor how recruits and prospects play in USTA and ITF matches. Coaches are charged $250/year to access all of this information as well as to view the private information (i.e. SAT/ACT scores) that players provide.
To see the TennisRecruiting.net information for local area players, My List of Top Central Ohio Players include links to TennisRecruiting.net.
Unfortunately, TennisRecruiting.net does not include high school matches but that is where Gerber Analytics is beneficial. I had one college coach recently mention how he wished that other neighboring states had their own version of Gerber Analytics so that he could track their high school tennis player activity. Fortunately for Ohio players, that is not the case (yet) so our players will continue to have a bit of an edge over the players in other areas of the Midwest.
| Boys | City | Likely High School | Grade |
| C.J. Cash | New Albany | ? | 8th |
| Patrick Morse | Westerville | ? | 8th |
| Adam Seitz | Dublin | Dublin Jerome | 7th? |
| Jacob Wareti | Columbus | Bexley | 7th? |
| Girls | City | Likely High School | Grade |
| Emma Stein | Dublin | Dublin Jerome | 8th |
| Andrea Ballinger | Columbus | ? | 8th |
| Jane Haffer | New Albany | ? | 8th |
| Francesca DiLorenzo | New Albany | New Albany | 8th |
If anyone has insight on where the eighth graders will be playing high school tennis, please send me a Feedback message.
June 3, 2011: For a bit clearer look, here are the high-def videos for the championship points for the Diaz-Wagner and Upper Arlington vs Mason matches. If you have a really fast connection, try 1080p, otherwise use 720p.
It has been interesting to see how other areas of the state cover tennis. Here is another article from the Cincinnati Enquirer. It includes a video interview from Wyoming's Mason Bourbon and Gustav Plattenburg. This interview was done prior to States.
None of the major papers covered the OTCA Tournament.
The OTCA has not yet named the All-State Tennis Teams. Hopefully they give Warren JFK's Michael Fredericka a first team spot. Even though Fredericka was the NW's 1 seed, he had to play Chris Diaz in the second round because of the poorly conceived five district situation in Division 2. First team spots are typically only given to those who reach the semi-finals on Saturday.
June 2, 2011: St. John's Jesuit fans wanted all of the video footage that I had on their "first doubles" match (which was the deciding match). This version contains the last three points in high-definition video.
It takes a fair amount of time (processing and setup) to create the high-definition videos, but I think they are worth it. I will upgrade the Diaz-Wagner and UA-Mason matches and provide them in tomorrow's update.
The USTA qualifiers are underway for the high school boys and have finished for the girls. These are always interesting because they provide insight on how hard the girls worked on their games in the off-season and because they include interesting match-ups for the boys.
To keep those tennis skills sharp, the Gahanna Open will begin after school on Monday, June . To register, please go to the www.cogp.com web site. The deadline to register is June 4.
| Coach | School | Total | Wins | Losses | Winning % |
| Mark Latham | Olentangy Orange | 9 | 9 | 0 | 100% |
| Tommy Haddow | Wellington | 6 | 5 | 1 | 83% |
| Ryan Swinehart | Jonathan Alder | 15 | 11 | 4 | 73% |
| Dan Witteman | Westland | 11 | 8 | 3 | 73% |
| G.J. Seckel | Bexley | 11 | 8 | 3 | 73% |
| Daphne Hess | Beechcroft | 14 | 10 | 4 | 71% |
| Art Haus | Buckeye Valley | 7 | 5 | 2 | 71% |
| John Messick | Teays Valley | 10 | 7 | 3 | 70% |
| John Fill | Westerville South | 12 | 8 | 4 | 67% |
| Tyler Stephen | Thomas Worthington | 14 | 9 | 5 | 64% |
| Bob Hunter | West Jefferson | 8 | 5 | 3 | 63% |
| Andrew Brower | Marion-Franklin | 8 | 5 | 3 | 63% |
| Linda Myers | St. Charles | 18 | 11 | 7 | 61% |
| Jeff Warstler | Columbus Academy | 15 | 9 | 6 | 60% |
| Barb Woods | Watterson | 10 | 6 | 4 | 60% |
| Kelli Rings | Pickerington Central | 10 | 6 | 4 | 60% |
| Doug Ewart | Groveport | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60% |
Why three-set matches? There are several reasons. They include: the competition is of similar ability; three-setters take place near the end of the match when the coach is not occupied with five different matches; and the coach has had time to evaluate the strengths and weakness of the opponents and advise his or her players on the best strategy.
Congratulations to the coaches included in the table. Each had a 60% or better winning percentage in three-set matches. (Nine additional coaches had winning, three-set records.)
Being on this list every once in awhile is probably better than never being on it, but again, it is just one of many different ways of looking at the season.
I continue to test different video configurations. This is a revised, higher-definition version of the Evan Bechtel - Zach Mueck championship point. If you have a fast connection, set the resolution to 720p and use the full screen mode.
Archive of Postings - April 2011 to June 1, 2011
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.
Privacy-Related Information:
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