by Steve Batko
Correspondent
Behind some potent ground strokes and timely volleys, the Twinsburg boys tennis squad recorded a big Northeast Ohio Conference divisional victory on April 23, 3-2 at home against Brunswick.
That puts the Tigers at 2-0 in the NOC River Division as of press time. Twinsburg was 6-4 overall, prior to visits to River Division rivals Stow-Munroe Falls (April 28) and North Royalton (April 30) at Memorial Park. Results of those matches were not available at press time.
"I was so proud of the way that we approached this match against Brunswick," said Tigers mentor Mike Porinchak. "We were extremely focused and played very consistent. Even in the matches we lost, we played tough and put up a fight.
"Each and every one of the seven players dug deep mentally and physically to win for the team," Porinchak said. "We showed that we are a team that has a chance to contend for our division. We still have some big matches left but our confidence is sky high now."
Winning big for the Tigers was Steve Kiesel at third singles, where he won 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 over Vinny Sheehan of the Blue Devils (6-6, 3-3).
Also winning was Brett Hawkins and Andy Whitney at first singles (6-3, 6-3) and winning at second doubles was Mike Stauffer and Mitch Keith (6-0 6-1).
Jacob Goroncy continues to battle the most talented players in the area at the difficult No. 1 singles position. He fell 6-0, 6-3 to Andy Orens. Patrick Yackmack fell 6-0, 6-7, 6-1 to Brunswick's Chris McNamara at the second singles spot.
On April 22, the Tigers lost a close match to Akron Archbishop Hoban (7-3) 2-3 at Hyre Park.
Victorious for the Tigers was Kiesel at third singles (7-6, 6-2) and the first doubles team of Hawkins and Yackmack, who won 6-4, 7-6 over Paul Kramer and Brian LaRose of the Knights.
Twinsburg is scheduled to entertain Woodridge May 1 at 4 p.m., Rocky River May 2 (4:30 p.m.), River foe Cuyahoga Falls May 5 (4 p.m.), NOC rival Lyndhurst Brush May 6 (4 p.m.) and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, May 7 (4:30 p.m.).
E-mail: stowsports@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3914