High school tennis: Avon clinches seventh straight SWC title

AVON — The weather forced Avon to wait another day, but it was worth it.The Eagles clinched their seventh straight Southwestern Conference title and completed a clean sweep of the league, going 7-0 in league play and winning all five finals of the league tournament they hosted Tuesday evening.The tournament was pushed back to Tuesday after Saturday's session was moved to Monday. It's the third time Avon has swept all five draws at the tournament during its seven-year run."Getting all five is a big deal," Avon coach Eric Korey said. "The guys made it a team goal to get all five courts and it doesn't matter what year it is, getting all five is super hard and super special. We knew a couple of courts might be close, but I thought we handled the pressure well. My hat goes off to all these boys, what a year."The Eagles handily took care of business on four courts. Blake Netschke defeated Amherst's Marie Schneider at second singles 6-0, 6-3. Ashton Schwanger beat Amherst's Josh Tomlin at third singles 6-1, 6-1. Both Netschke and Schwanger won SWC titles last year at third singles and second doubles, respectively.Avon faced Midview at both doubles draws with Caleb Free and Grant Nagy defeating Kaiden Vonya and Marcus McMahon at first doubles 6-1, 6-1. Vonya and McMahon were seeded No. 3, the only ones outside of the top two at their draw to make a final. And at second doubles, Bidwat Mishra and Jaxen Springer defeated Trenton Popeck and Lila Booth 6-2, 6-1. Mishra was an SWC runner-up at first doubles last season.But first singles was anything but straightforward, as Amherst's Katelyn Bussard gave Aarav Kishorepuria all he could handle even though the Avon sophomore prevailed 6-3, 6-3. The two met in the regular season with Bussard forcing a second set tiebreaker, but ultimately losing.Bussard, a freshman, took a 3-0 lead in the opening set and had an opportunity to secure a second break during what turned out to be a pivotal 14-point game. But Kishorepuria held off the attempt and, after going to deuce four times, ended up getting his first game of the match."I don't want to put it on the headband, but I put a headband on and anything psychological can flip that switch," Kishorepuria said. "I locked in. My legs were a little heavy at first and I was a little nervous. She's a great tennis player. I just got into a rhythm and that's what I run on most. That's what carried me through this match."Whatever magic was in that band, it worked because the Avon sophomore won the next six games with only one of them going to deuce.Bussard, however, again started the second set with an early break to go up 2-0, but Kishorepuria put things back on serve at 3-2 and, after Bussard held, won the final three games to clinch the championship, his second straight SWC title after winning the second singles draw last season."This was one of our season goals this year, sweeping SWCs," Kishorepuria said. "I think it's great we accomplished one of our season goals. It was a tough task because it's a great conference, but it just speaks to our chemistry and to our team as a whole."Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.