By Cort Reynolds
MASON - Ada senior Zach Beaschler won both of his matches Friday at the Div. II state tennis tournament to advance to the semifinals on a warm day at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.
Beaschler (26-0) makes it to the state semifinals for the first time in his third appearance at the 16-player event.
The undefeated Bulldog will play fellow top seed Andrew Pregel of Cincinnati Indian Hill in one of two semis Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
Then depending on the outcome of that match, later on Saturday Beaschler will meet either Dayton Miami Valley senior Colton Morehart, or Columbus Wellington sophomore Trevor Ball in the state finals or third-place match.
On Friday, Beaschler faced junior Niyanth Reddy of Dayton Miami Valley in the first round. After dropping his first set of the tournament 1-6, Beaschler rallied to win the final two sets 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
"Zach got off to a slow start but was able to settle in and stay focused on chipping away one point at a time to get the three-set win," said Ada head coach Christy Beaschler.
In the round of eight, Beaschler led Milan Gonela of Columbus Wellington 6-1, 1-0 in the second set when Gonela was forced to retire.
"Zach come out confident and relaxed in the second match, and was hitting all his shots to get the first set," said Beaschler. "He started off the second set the same way before his opponent retired," she added.
Beaschler's next opponent (Pregel) easily won both of his matches Friday by identical scores of 6-1, 6-0.
"Zach needs to come out of the gate confident and relaxed Saturday morning (vs. Pregel) and play each point as they come," the coach noted.
Seth Banks was the only previous Ada boy to to make it to state in the late 1990s. With the two wins Friday, Beaschler has already made his furthest state advancement, and is assured of no worse than a fourth-place finish.
