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East Liverpool, University Repeat as OVAC Boys Champions

Wheeling Park’s Ryan Payne competes during the OVAC semifinals in the No. 3 singles competition at West Liberty. Photo by Cody Tomer

WEST LIBERTY — Wheeling Park and Wheeling Central combined to have four players reach the semifinals, Steubenville overcame multiple obstacles and University (5A) and East Liverpool (1A-4A) repeated as OVAC boys tennis champions on Thursday at West Liberty.

Wheeling Park’s Ryan Payne and and Wheeling Central’s Giorgio Alexander both entered the day as top seeds in the tournament and both advanced to the semi-finals before falling just shy of the finals.

Alexander fell by an 8-3 count to East Liverpool’s Chris Montgomery and Payne was ousted by Steubenville’s Marc Porter by an 8-5 mark.

Also reaching the semi-final round was Park’s Jared Jorden and Central’s Isaac Smith, but Jorden was upended by eventual No. 1 singles champion, Drew Hawthorne of University by an 8-5 score and Smith was turned away by the No. 3 boys singles champion, Sam Gorski of Morgantown in an 8-4 final..

“We had a great day,” Central coach Peggy Dailer said. “We had three guys reach the quarterfinals, we worked hard, the matches were good and the competition was wonderful. That helps get us ready for regionals and states.

“Smith is just a freshman and he has improved a lot this year. He got all the way to the semifinals and that is pretty impressive for never playing high school tennis before. He improved a lot in this tournament.

“Giorgio’s opponent was very good. He won the finals and was just a little better than he was (Wednesday).”

Jacob Coughlan also was victorious for the Maroon Knights, making it to the quarterfinal round and the Knights finished third in the small division, behind champion East Liverpool and runner-up Stuebenville.

Wheeling Park turned in a fourth place finish in the big school division after University, runner-up Cambridge and third place finisher Morgantown.

Early in the match, Jorden held a 4-2 edge and was on the verge of going up 5-2 on Hawthorne but the lengthy tennis standout from University used his size to rally for a come-from-behind victory.

“I thought both Jorden and Payne played very well,” Park coach Tim Ickes said. “There are some tough matches at this level in the semifinals.

“That is probably the best I have ever seen Jorden play. He had Hawthorne on his heels and really had him guessing but he is a heck of a player and its hard to do anything against that fast serve.”

Steubenville had an outstanding effort from Marc Porter and Calvin Jackson, who both reached the finals but fell just short of claiming the singles title and Big Red was just points away from escaping with a team championship.

Porter, in one of the tightest matches of the day, dropped a narrow 8-6 decision to Gorski and Jackson fell to No. 4 singles champion, Michael Dawson of Parkersburg South.

“Their effort was amazing,” Big Red coach Ross Ivkovich said. “They are seniors and we came into this with one win (Wednesday) so for them to bring us that close to winning a championship, I can’t say enough about them. They did a great job.

“Jackson was the four seed and bounced between singles and doubles all year. He is a senior so I let him play and he came out and played the best tennis of his career and really blew me away.

Porter has battled medical issues and health problems this year and for him to step up and get to the championship is just amazing. I am very proud of those two guys.”

The powerhouse of University continued its winning ways with another title and head coach Tom McClelland believes they can stay at the top for years to come.

“This is a great base to build our program,” McClelland said. “We have three freshmen and only one senior. Our goal is to be back here and build the strongest program in West Virginia.

“Winning this again means everything and it was a great team win. They are good kids and a dream to coach. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

As for East Liverpool, the back-to-back championships came as a bit of a surprise to head coach George Whittaker.

“I am a little bit shocked this year,” Whittaker said. “We had a nice club last year but it took some luck this time. Montgomery got to the finals and a couple of others came through for us. We also had some nice draws.

“I am happy because we have everyone but one senior coming back next year, so hopefully we can go for a third. We have been competitive and have a lot of pride in our program.”

Cambridge was led by No. 2 singles champion, Joe Goggin, who defeated Morgantown’s Adrian Mascari for the title.

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