Bexley's Lessard, Schiff come up short in marathon OHSAA doubles final
· Yahoo Sports
MASON – Nobody was saying if certain doubles teams from Bexley and Cincinnati Indian Hill were keeping one eye on the other once the Division II boys tennis state tournament draw was released.
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But their finals meeting was the first one to be determined May 29 at Lindner Family Tennis Center, and the showdown between Bexley’s Henry Lessard and Adrian Schiff and Indian Hill’s Neelan Gandhi and Gareth Kurowski more than lived up to the billing.
A three-setter that took 2 hours, 45 minutes, featured two tiebreakers and almost saw Lessard, a five-star junior, and Schiff, a senior, erase a late 5-2 deficit ultimately went to Gandhi and Kurowski 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
“We didn’t talk about it too much, and when the draw came out nobody wanted to look past anybody,” Bexley coach Will Gingery said. “We had some tight matches. Our guys maybe had it circled in their heads, but we weren’t going to talk about it. …
“They could have easily caved, but they stuck together.”
The final was not only a rematch of Gandhi and Kurowski’s 8-5 win over Lessard and Schiff in Bexley’s doubles invitational April 4, but a partial rematch of last year’s Division II doubles final.
Lessard and his older brother, Sam, who now plays for Colorado College and was in attendance both days of state, defeated Gandhi and 2025 graduate Michael Ryu 6-2, 7-5 at Aspen Racquet Club in Wooster.
“Last year we were playing indoors, so that was a big difference,” Gandhi said. “Henry hits such a big ball and just playing outside gives me more time to react to his serves, react to his forehand. I think I played a way better match and [Kurowski] really got me through the match as well.”
The loss denied Henry Lessard a third straight state title and Schiff his first. Lessard won singles as a freshman.
The only central Ohio players to make a final, Lessard and Schiff swept Pepper Pike Orange’s Atreya Bhatt and Sam Tokmazeysky 6-1, 6-2 in a semifinal.
Had Lessard and Schiff pulled off the comeback, it would have been the second such turnaround in neighboring courts in less than half an hour.
Mason senior Greg Bernadsky trailed Landon Vens of Sylvania Southview 5-2 in the second set of the Division I singles final but roared back to repeat as champion with a 6-0, 7-6 victory.
In Division I doubles, New Albany senior Tyler Thomas and freshman Brady Kattan lost to eventual champions Carson Dwyer and Nihal Narisetty of Cincinnati St. Xavier 6-1, 6-2 and fell 6-4, 6-2 to Whitehouse Anthony Wayne’s Will Black and Brody Sutto in the third-place match.
Thomas, who will play at Otterbein for his father, former New Albany coach Marc Thomas, earned his first state placement.
“St. X’s serves and their returns [made it] really tough to get into the point,” New Albany coach Erin Thomas said. “Their ball is so heavy and they have great angles, great volleys. They are highly ranked players. Tyler and Brady didn’t play badly in the semi, but they just ran into players of a really high caliber.”
Olentangy Liberty, Bexley players finish fourth in singles
Both of central Ohio’s singles semifinalists, Liberty senior Shane Hand in Division I and Bexley freshman Harrison Lessard in Division II, finished fourth.
Hand, a three-time state qualifier and Butler signee, placed fourth for the second time in three seasons. He lost 6-2, 6-4 to Bernadsky in a semifinal and 6-2, 6-2 to Richfield Revere junior Finn Keenan in the third-place match.
Shin splints forced Harrison Lessard, the younger brother of Henry and Sam, to retire during the first set of his semifinal against West Milton Milton-Union junior Levi Brumbaugh. Lessard trailed 5-2 at the time.
He also forfeited his third-place match against Pepper Pike Orange junior Ilya Shcherbakov.
“He went for a ball and put a lot of pressure on his shins and might have reaggravated [the injury],” Gingery said. “He took a medical [timeout] and tried to fight through it like the warrior that he is, but he just couldn’t put weight on it.”
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at [email protected] and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OHSAA tennis state title match loss for Bexley doubles team