WOOSTER — Dylan Catanese takes his role as senior captain on Lexington’s tennis team very seriously, whether he’s setting the tone as a reigning state champion or paying attention to even the smallest of details.
Like Thursday, when he made sure everyone was lined up properly before they stormed the courts at the College of Wooster to celebrate a seventh straight Ohio Cardinal Conference championship.
When the Minutemen rushed to congratulate freshman Jack Campbell and sophomore Preston Huynh for winning No. 2 doubles, it not only put the wraps on yet another successful OCC tournament for Lex but gave everybody on the team a chance to exhale.
A chance to breathe.
Because this was more of a grind than usual.
A program that has won 18 of the 21 league crowns (not including the COVID year of 2020) usually knows its fate before the tournament’s first serve.
But this year was different.
In the league’s two-pronged scoring format, Lex held a precarious one-point lead (23-22) over Wooster at the end of the league’s dual meet season. Making matters even more iffy, coach Ron Schaub wasn’t sure how his team would hold up, physically, in the tournament, which awards points to the top three finishers on each court on an 8-6-4 basis.
Catanese hyperextended his left knee in a match against Wooster last week and sophomore Philip Etzel, a 2024 OCC double champ, fell ill on Tuesday and missed Wednesday’s dual with Ashland.
Ultimately, everything worked out, just as it almost always does.
Lex won four of the five courts, scoring 38 of a possible 40 points to hold off Wooster, which lost three of its four head-to-head showdowns with the Minutemen in the finals.
Catanese, wearing a brace on his bad knee, had to back out of his usual spot at No. 1 singles, but paired with junior Ben Wiltanger to win No. 1 doubles for his third OCC title.
Etzel, pumped full of Tylenol, won No. 2 singles, moving up from his usual spot at No 3 to help offset the absence of Catanese in singles.
“I was excited about the challenge,” Catanese said. “I’m glad we took most of the courts. Coming in we didn’t know what was going to happen, but we really did persevere today.
“It showed how much work we put in. There’s just so much fight in this team. I’m really proud of the guys. They deserved it.”
But almost nothing came easy.
With the exception of Etzel, Lex’s other champs had to rally from a set down.
At No. 3 singles, sophomore Tony Palmer made a stunning turnaround en route to a 1-6, 6-0, 10-6 (tiebreaker) win over Wooster’s Nick Kakanuru. At No. 1 doubles, Catanese and Wiltanger battled back for a 4-6, 6-2, 10-3 victory. And at No. 2 doubles, Campbell and Huynh rebounded for a 6-7, 6-4, 10-5 triumph.
Etzel, playing much better than he probably felt, beat Ashland’s Grant White 6-1, 6-3 for his title.
“I don’t know what (my illness) was, but I had a fever and a sore throat and a headache,” he said. “It started Tuesday afternoon, so I sat out (Wednesday’s match) to rest for today. Even if I had felt super bad, I still would have played today no matter what.”
With the postseason starting next week, Etzel will team up with junior two-time OCC champ Cooper Remy in doubles at sectionals. Remy lost at No. 1 singles on Thursday to Wooster’s Henry Pozefsky 6-1, 6-1.
“If I had to choose, I would probably choose doubles,” said Etzel, who now has OCC titles in singles and doubles. “It’s more fast-paced and you need quick reactions, which makes it super fun to play.”
Palmer wasn’t having much fun at first in his title match, but after winning only one game in the first set he did an about-face, winning every game in the second set to force the decisive 10-point tiebreaker.
“I played horrible in the first set; I just missed everything, and he was keeping consistent,” he said. “In the second set, I played consistent. We pretty much reversed roles.”
The tiebreaker got off to an ominous start for Palmer when he double-faulted on the first point. But then he won five points in a row and played from in front the rest of the way.
“In the tiebreaker, I tried not to miss a single ball instead of trying to go for everything,” Palmer said. “In my spot, I knew I had to win that third singles. Everyone was pulling for each other. If I could win, it gives everybody else hope.”
Palmer was first off the court for Lex, while Campbell and Huynh found themselves in the middle of the team celebration as the last to finish.
“As a sophomore, one of my biggest dreams was to become an OCC champ,” Huynh said. “It’s amazing.”
Not only were he and Campbell down a set, they also had to rally from a 1-4 deficit in their 10-point tiebreaker.
“We didn’t have our heads down,” Huynh said “We kept our heads up and had good teamwork to come back.
“Before the tournament we told ourselves that everything could be on the line in our match since Dylan’s knee hurt and Phil was sick. So we had it on our brains that we had to be locked in.”
They did a remarkable job considering their lack of varsity experience or playing time together.
“This was one of our first matches together and we started to build some chemistry,” Campbell said. “We figured things out as we went and by the second set we were locked in.
“That first set (loss) lit a fire under us. After that, there wasn’t a ball we weren’t going to get to.”
Wiltanger had played all season with Palmer at No. 1 doubles, but that changed when Catanese came up hobbling last week and needed a break from singles.
All of sudden, Wiltanger found himself paired up with a 2024 state doubles champ. The last thing he wanted to do was let Catanese down.
“I was a little nervous, but I was also pretty excited because I knew we had a good (duo) right there,” Wiltanger said. “It was a little rough the first set, but after that we were dialed in.”
Catanese blamed himself for the match having to go to a 10-point tiebreaker.
“That first set (loss) was pretty much on me,” he said. “I lost my service game twice and we had to regroup from that. I told Ben we just needed a couple of breaks and we’d be back in it. I told him it was only one set. Just forget about it. We started playing better together and our serves got better.”
Ironically, Catanese hurt himself last week while in the process of beating Pozefsky in that dual match with Wooster. They would have met again on Thursday, with the No. 1 singles title on the line, but Catanese didn’t want to risk making his knee troubles worse by playing singles.
Unfortunately, playing doubles ended his bid to be OCC Player of the Year because the honor automatically goes to the No 1 singles champ.
“It’s all right,” Catanese said. “(Pozefsky’s) a great player. He deserves it. It does suck a little bit, but it’s the big picture that I’m thinking about
“The knee brace helped a lot today. I should be good for sectionals, district and state (in singles). I didn’t have to move as much today playing doubles.”
As much as he lauds Catanese for his playing skills, Schaub appreciates him almost as much for the intangibles he brings to the team.
“He’s been a really good captain,” he said. “He and Cooper together do a good job of pumping up the team. Everybody stepped up and played good. To win three championship matches by tiebreaker is crazy. We try to play a really hard schedule so these guys have played a lot of really hard matches.”
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lex swats adversity to win 7th straight OCC tennis title
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