Sectional tennis: Highland doubles team dominates on the way to districts

GRANGER TWP. — The top singles players for the Highland boys tennis team in the regular season, sophomore Ani Katta and junior Sawyer Sulzener suddely look like they've been playing doubles together for years.The top-seeded Hornets duo dominated the competition Saturday morning to win the doubles crown at the Highland Division I Sectional and will play a fourth-place finisher from one of three other area sectionals when the Northeast District begins Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Springside Racquet & Fitness Club.Katta and Sulzener will be joined at districts by Wadsworth junior Brandon Ball and senior Vincent Gambaccini, also their team's top singles players in the regular season. The fourth-seeded Grizzlies exceeded their seed by finishing third in doubles at the Springside Sectional and will meet a second-place sectional finisher in the opening round at districts.Because the Northeast District is the largest in the state, the top six singles and top six doubles placers will advance to the state tournament. That requires winning in the first round, then winning one of the next two matches. Opening with two victories guarantees a top-four finish."It's very important to get the No. 1 seed (at sectionals)," said Katta, who played in the state doubles tournament last season with two-time Gazette MVP Luke Butcher. "Obviously, we hope to make states. That's the ultimate goal."Katta and Sulzener certainly seem to be peaking at the right time. After falling behind Westlake's fourth-seeded Colson Milovich and Sammy Jung 4-2 in their semifinal match, they reeled off 10 straight games to win 6-4, 6-0."We started to play more clean," said Sulzener, who advanced to districts for the first time in his career. "We were not making unforced errors and we put away our volleys.""We just started being more aggressive at net and from the baseline," Katta added. "We were more aggressive on our serves as well, and that helped us go on a big run."Turns out the Hornets were just getting started, as they crushed St. Edward's second seeded Zoard Vasarhelyi and Kyle Vaziri 6-1, 6-0 in the final. That means Katta and Sulzener won 22 of the last 23 games they played Saturday."We were stepping forward on our shots more and we were hitting it cleaner," Sulzener said. "We came to net when they gave us the opportunity and put our shots away."Whether it was effective serving, big overheads, numerous passing shots or incredible volleys, often with outstanding angle, the Hornets were never threatened by a team they needed three sets to beat late in the regular season."We're definitely better doubles players now," Katta said. "We're more comfotable together now. It was definitely our best match together."Wadsworth's Ball and Gambaccini lost their semifinal match 6-0, 6-0 to top-seeded and eventual sectional champions Enrique Isaev and Jerrel Rayen of North Royalton, but gave themselves a much better chance of winning their first match at districts by bouncing back to down Brecksville's third-seeded Simon Youssef and Jongeun Choi 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the third-place match at Springside.Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com.