By Cort Reynolds
ADA - The Ada boys tennis team lost a close 3-2 battle to visiting Clyde in their second round match of the northwest quadrant in the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association Div. II state tournament.
The match was played on a sunny Wednesday evening at Ohio Northern University's Marmon tennis courts.
The Bulldogs fell to 6-1 with the defeat. Talented Clyde had to beat Celina in a suspended first round match at ONU before taking on Ada, so they came away with two wins and a berth in the northwest quad semifinals.
Senior Zach Beaschler led 6-0 when his opponent at first singles had to retire. He is now 10-0 this spring. Ada switched up its normal lineup as Miranda Wills and Nathan Hurtig were victorious at second doubles to provide the other Bulldog win.
However, Clyde won the other two singles matches and a hard-fought first doubles bout to hand Ada their first dual match defeat this season.
Match results:
1st singles: Zach Beaschler (A) defeats Lukas Cziesla 6-0, retired
2nd: Daniel Stevens defeats Acel Gamble (A) 6-3, 6-2
3rd: Alex Kauble defeats Adam Bailey (A) 6-0, 6-0
1st doubles: Noah Prunty/Jacob Strudthoff defeats Isaac Spar/ Cade Mullins (A) 6-2, 6-4
2nd: Nathan Hurtig/Miranda Wills (A) defeats Logan Nicely/ David Hohenstein 6-1, 6-2
Clyde will next play the Ottawa Hills/Shelby winner in the OTCA northwest semifinals at a date TBA.
Last Saturday at the Clyde Invitational tournament, Ada finished a strong second out of seven teams. The Bulldogs posted one individual title and three second places to finish behind only the hosts.
Beaschler handily won three straight-sets matches in the first singles flight to win the individual title. He rolled in his first two matches 6-0, 6-0, and then beat Lukas Cziesla of Clyde 6-3, 6-1 in the finals.
Junior Cade Mullins advanced to the second singles finals with two double-bagel wins. He then lost in the finals to Daniel Stevens of Clyde 6-1, 6-3 to run his singles record to 8-1 this year.
Sophomore Isaac Spar also took second at third singles. Spar got a first round bye, then won 6-1, 6-1 to get to the finals. Alex Kauble of Clyde beat Spar in the title match 6-3, 6-4.
The first doubles team of Wills and Hurtig lost in the first round to the eventual champion duo from Clyde. The Bulldog tandem then rallied to win two matches and finish fifth.
Adam Bailey and Acel Gamble finished as runner-up at second doubles. They gutted out their first round match in a third-set tiebreaker 10-7.
Bailey and Gamble won their semifinal match in straight sets before losing 6-2, 6-2 to a Clyde duo in the finals.
Clyde won the team event with 48 points, with Ada a strong second at 38 points. Springfield tallied 29 to come in third, followed in fourth by Clay (20), Sandusky (13), Perkins (12) and Madison (11).
Ada plays at Lima Bath Thursday, April 26.
