GENEVA — Things broke right for the Saint John boys tennis team Tuesday during the Ashtabula County Boys Tennis Championship in Geneva.
Heralds coach Todd Nassief said he was very proud of his team that took charge of the match, winning all of the matches except first singles, and that went to a tie breaker.
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“Everyone played so well,” he said. “Second doubles came back to beat Geneva 6-4, 6-4 after losing 6-2, 6-2 [at a recent match.”
Christian Barbian won the third-place title to earn a gold medal said.
“[He] is steady, steady, steady,” Nassief said.
There was plenty of drama in the second-singles finals.
Saint John’s Grayson Petros won the first set and trailed 4-1, before winning five games in a row to defeat Geneva’s Myles Colgan 7-5, 6-4.
The first singles match was hard fought between Edgewood’s Noah Vencill and Saint John’s Jack Varckette.
Vencill ended up with a 2-6, 7-5 (10-5 tiebreaker) win to claim the title.
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Nassief said Varckette played a good match.
“I am really proud of the team,” Nassief said.
At doubles, Saint John’s Carter Blenman and Danny Hutchins, first, and Kaleb Elek and Jaylin Streit, second, notched champioinships.
Vencill said the match was a big challenge.
“Pretty tough,” he said. “It got me bad. I had to fight.”
Vencill said said he tries to calm himself between sets, and form a plan for success.
Vencill said his resetting between sets help him focus all his energy on the rest of the match.
Edgewood coach Renee Mattson said it was “amazing” to have a league champion and get second place in the tournament through a tie breaker.
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Mattson said Vencill came in as a freshman and “took over.”
Mattson said Vencill has such a strong mental makeup that when he puts his mind to something he usually gets it done.
Saint John won the championship with 29 points followed by Edgewood and Geneva with 23 (the Warriors won on a tie breaker) each.
Jefferson finished third with 16 points, followed by Lakeside at 10 and Conneaut six.
“Not a good day for Geneva,” coach Scott Torok said. “We thought we were peaking at the right time the, but cards didn’t fall our way. Hats off to Saint John.”
The Heralds won the tournament in 2021, 2024 and 2025.
The county boys teams will start gearing up for sectional play and all but Saint John will play again at the Chagrin Valley Conference Tournament.