DAYTON — What has been one of the best regular seasons in Eaton boys tennis ended with a fourth place finish in the Southwestern Buckeye League’s Southwestern Division.
Eaton, ranked No. 8 in the Miami Valley Tennis Coaches Association, earned a pair of third place finishes at the SWBL tournament.
“For as long as I’ve coached the boys teams we have never had any position earn medals, so I’m very pleased with Brad Kramer at second singles and Dylan Hauser and John Altom at second doubles,” Hitchcock said of his third place finishers.
When the day finally ended, Eaton held on to fourth place. Bellbrook took home the team championship with Oakwood in second, and Valley View in third.
“Not bad when you consider that Oakwood and Valley View are the second and fourth ranked teams in the Miami Valley for D-II schools and Bellbrook is ranked fifth for D-1 schools,” Hitchcock said.
Kramer had one of the best days for the Eagles as he was able to win a medal. He won his first match versus Brookville 6-0, 6-0. Then faced the No. 2 seed from Oakwood. After losing a tightly contested first set 7-5, Kramer dropped the second set 6-1, which put him in the third place match where he won against Valley View 7-5, 6-2.
Eaton’s second doubles Dylan Hauser and John Altom had a great day as they were also able to earn third place medals.
They won easily against Brookville in the first round 6-0, 6-0 and then got paired up against the No. 2 seed from Valley View.
“This specific doubles team did not get to play Valley View in their dual match so I was looking forward to a strong showing. Unfortunately, we did not put our best foot forward and lost fairly easily,” Hitchcock said of the 6-2, 6-2 loss.
That loss meant Eaton had to play Oakwood for third place. Hauser and Altom beat this team earlier in the year and they were able to do it a second time. They won 6-1, 6-4.
At first singles, Breven Perry earned fifth place after losing his 1st round match to Franklin 6-4, 6-4. He then faced Brookville’s first singles player in which he won in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.
At third singles, Cody Frizzell placed fifth overall. He lost a tough first round to Franklin 6-1, 7-6 (5) who went on to get second place. He went on to play Brookville and won 6-2, 6-4.
Eaton’s first doubles Andrew Collins and Branson Ball suffered a tough first round loss to Brookville, according to Hitchcock. After beating Brookville earlier in the year in a very close match, Eaton went in as the fourth seed and Brookville the fifth seed. Brookville came out extra motivated and pulled off the minor upset beating Eaton 6-2, 6-4.
“Andrew and Branson got off to a slow start and just could not recover in time. They had to shake off their disappointment and get ready to play a solid Franklin team,” Hitchcock said. They won in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 which earned them fifth place.
