Photo by Cody Nespor Linsly’s Edoardo Ciato prepares to return a volley during singles play in the OVAC boys’ tennis tournemant at John Marshall High School Thursday.

Linsly Boys Join Girls as OVAC Champs

By CODY NESPOR

Sports Writer

WHEELING — After winning just one game in the OVAC boys’ tennis tournament last year, the Linsly Cadets made a complete turnaround and claimed their first team title in over a decade Thursday night.

After a marathon day of tennis that started at John Marshall High School and ended several hours later inside the bubble at Wheeling Park, the Cadets stood on top of the OVAC Class 1A-4A teams standings with a score of 10, edging out second-place Cambridge (eight) and third-place East Liverpool (five).

The boys’ victory completed a sweep of the Class 1A-4A team titles for the Cadets, as the Linsly girls won their 11th straight OVAC championship in dramatic fashion on Tuesday.

“It feels really good,” said Linsly coach Tyler Bickford. “Last year we won one game in OVACs so it’s a big improvement this year. It was really an all-around effort, we were a very well-rounded team this year.”

Bickford said his team was close to doing well last season, but an injury to their top player forced everyone to play up a position.

“Last year we had, I would say, almost a good team,” Bickford allowed. “Who would’ve been my number one (player) slipped a disc right before the season started so everyone had to play up one position and it was just a bit rough. With everyone playing where they should be this year, it really showed how good we were.”

Leading the charge for Linsly was senior Edoardo Ciato, who made it to the No. 1 singles championship match against Morgantown’s Max Phillip-Hartley.

In an epic back-and-forth contest, Phillip-Hartley pulled out an impressive 8-6 victory.

“(Phillip-Hartley) got a break early and a lot of his service games were very close,” Bickford said. “Edoardo came very close to breaking (his serve) and when he finally did, Max broke right back and just held serve.”

Ciato defeated Brooke’s Nick Pollock in the No. 1 semifinals 8-4.

This was Ciato’s first time playing in the OVAC tournament as it’s his first year in the states, coming over frim Italy.

In No. 2 singles, Linsly’s Wesley Palmer scored several key points by advancing to the semifinals, where he fell 8-3 to Morgantown’s Bennett Hall.

“We had a mishap with our three and four players where they just had an off day (Thursday) and got knocked out early. I expected them both to go to the semifinals or finals so we lost a lot of points there. But, we had a decent day (Wednesday) in doubles and both Wesley and Edoardo made up the difference for us.”

Other than Ciato, every singles championship was made up of players from Morgantown and Dover. Unsurprisingly, Morgantown and Dover finished first in second in the Class 5A team standings.

Brooke’s Pollock made it to the No. 1 semifinals with an exciting 9-7 victory over St. Clairsville’s Jabez Chavez in the quarterfinal round. Teammate Aiden Warrick won a match in the No. 3 bracket.

Wheeling Central’s Elijah Kuhl and Carson Kuhn each also won a match in No. 1 and No. 3, respectivley.

Wheeling Park had victories from Nick Trischler in No. 3 singles and Wyatt Andrews in No. 2.

In doubles play Wednesday, Ciato and Palmer made it to the No. 1 championship, where they fell to a pair from Morgantown. In the No. 2 bracket, Brooke’s Kendrick Fish and Tyler VanCamp made it to the finals, falling to a duo from Dover.

Weir’s Justin Velegol and Nike Dimitrou won a doubles match in the No. 1 bracket and Ty Lyon and Michael Little won a match in No. 2.

In the No. 3 doubles bracket, Brooke’s Landon Morris and Samuel Mockbee and Park’s Evan Stingle and Charlie Desaia both won a match.

“Since I’ve been here, boys’ tennis just hasn’t really been a big thing,” Bickford said. “It’s really nice to see the sport in the area having a little bit of life.”