OHSAA boys tennis: Gahanna’s Carpico, two central Ohio doubles teams reach state semis
CINCINNATI — Central Ohio heads into the final day of the Division I state boys tennis tournament with defending singles champion Brandon Carpico and the district’s top two doubles teams still alive.
After the first two rounds were held indoors May 27 at Camargo Racquet Club, the semifinals and championship matches are scheduled to be held May 28 at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.
Carpico, a Gahanna Lincoln junior who hasn’t lost a set all season, will face Cincinnati Sycamore senior Chad Miller in a semifinal.
In doubles, the Olentangy Orange duo of senior Parth Patel and junior Kallan Arledge will play Anish Gangavaram and Akshay Joshi of Mason, while Dublin Jerome seniors Max Fickas and Tanish Pairu will play Nick Meyers and Mark Karev of Sycamore in the other semifinal.
Carpico opened state with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Springboro freshman Rishi Dore and then faced Dore’s brother, senior Sai Dore, in an intense quarterfinal.
After Carpico built a 5-2 lead in the first set and failed to finish a set point while up 5-4, Sai Dore rallied to take a 6-5 lead.
Carpico then responded by forcing a tiebreaker in which he led 6-4 and then fell behind 7-6 before scoring the final three points to take the set.
He then finished off Sai Dore for a 7-6 (9-7), 6-0 victory.
“I knew going into it, it was going to be a tough match,” Carpico said. “I was up 6-4 (in the tiebreaker) and then he played a couple really good points to go up (7-6). Obviously me saving that set point was huge and I forced him into an error, so that was kind of a turning point. Once you lose the set point, you get kind of dejected.”
Should Carpico win his state semifinal, he would face Mason’s Vignesh Gogineni or Sycamore’s Nicholas Choo for the title. Carpico beat Gogineni in straight sets to win last year’s title.
Patel and Arledge opened state with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Mason’s Vamshi Singidi and Aron Dornhecker and then beat Sycamore’s Kevin Dong and Arjun Rajagopala 6-4, 6-3 in a quarterfinal.
“We just want to go far in this tournament,” Patel said. “I think we’re contenders.”
After Fickas and Pairu reached the quarterfinal round last year, they beat Massillon Jackson’s Lucas Immel and Ryan Kelley 6-1, 6-3 and then edged Cincinnati St. Xavier’s Drew Evans and Tucker Berry 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5 to advance to a semifinal.
“We click well,” Fickas said. “Our games match each other and we set each other up well. Being here this one last time, I couldn’t ask for anything else.”
Also in Division I singles, Pickerington North senior Cole Alcala and Upper Arlington junior Ethan Samora lost in quarterfinals and Worthington Kilbourne senior Owen Alderman lost in the first round.
In Division I doubles, senior Declan Freedhoff and sophomore Ben Bilenko of New Albany lost in a quarterfinal and juniors Jay Ramakkagari and Hummza Ali of Olentangy Liberty lost in the first round.
The opening day of the Division II state tournament was held at Five Seasons Family Sports Club.
Columbus Academy freshman Lucas Xue lost in a quarterfinal and Bexley freshman Sam Lessard lost in the first round.
In doubles, senior Ryan Panley and freshman Rowen Lo of Academy and juniors Austin Flamm and Stefan Schiff of Bexley lost in quarterfinals.
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: OHSAA boys tennis: Columbus-area players compete at state
