Boys tennis: Highland repeats -- eventually -- as SL American champion

GRANGER TWP. — The Highland boys tennis program went 28 seasons without winning a league title, but coach Lisa Reynolds' Hornets now have two in a row.The Suburban League American Conference Tournament started three hours late Thursday due to wet courts and didn't get finished, got postponed by more rain Saturday and required two sites to complete Monday, but Highland won titles at four spots and finished second at the fifth to accumulate 39 points, one off the maximum, in a dominating team performance.The Hornets, who will begin playing in the SL National Conference in 2026-27, also won the American Conference regular-season crown en route to the overall title."It's nice to go out with a bang," freshman third singles champion Aaron Davis said.Highland entered Monday needing to beat Aurora in just one of three head-to-head meetings in the finals and wound up winning all three, clinching the team title when the first doubles team of hard-hitting sophomores Nikita Belyanskiy and Alex Blagrave avenged a three-set regular-season loss to the Greenmen's Kade Morgenroth and Blake Oden with a dominating 6-1, 6-2 victory."In the beginning of the season, we weren't warmed up and we weren't doing as many drills," Belyanskiy said. "We could barely get the ball over the net and our serves weren't as consistent as they are now. We've been practicing a lot.""We learned what each other does, so we play off each other better now," Blagrave added. "We're both pretty aggressive at net. If we feel like we can get to it, we go for it. We hit it hard."Minutes after Belyanskiy and Blagrave got off the court, the Highland second doubles team of juniors Keaton Jones and Jared Bryan did the same, downing Aurora's Connor Emrick and Revan Chenupati 6-2, 6-1."We played clean tennis and put things away at the net," Jones said. "We've been playing together since freshman year, so we have the same mindset when it comes to winning points: Set your guy up and finish."Hornets first singles player Ani Katta, who reached the Division I state doubles tournament last year as a freshman, lost 6-0, 6-0 to Revere's Finn Keenan in the finals on Thursday, but there was no shame in that, as Keenan finished third in the state in singles last season as a sophomore.Highland junior second singles player Sawyer Sulzener, who will be top-seeded in doubles with Katta when sectional play begins next week, won his team's third crown with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Revere's Truman Voris after dropping three of the first four games."My string tension was really low, so I switched rackets," Sulzener said after winning 11 of the final 14 games. "That helped my control of the ball. I also focused on stepping into the ball, and that helped me hit more consistently."Much like the tournament overall, the third singles final was a marathon, with the Hornets' Davis downing Aurora's Aiden Eisner 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-1.Davis trailed 4-1 in the first set but rallied to force a tiebreaker, which he won easily. Then, when rain made the courts at Highland unplayable with Eisner again up 4-1 in the second set, the match was moved indoors at Paramount Tennis Club. Eisner quickly ended the second set, but Jones dominated the third."I was playing scared a little bit," Jones said of falling behind in the first set. "Then I started to play more loose, play my game and be more aggressive. That helped me come back."Jones, who does a great job of anticipating shots and never seems to tire, couldn't pull off a similar rally in the second set, so he left nothing to chance in the third."That was a whole new set," he said. "I had a chance to settle down, get my serve up and be more confident."When Jones' match ended, the Hornets celebrated their SL American crown."It's a really big deal," Bryan said. "This is our second year in a row, so it definitely feels good."Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com.