MORGANTOWN — Two years ago, the Morgantown High boys’ tennis team didn’t have one player qualify for the state tournament.
It was the first time in head coach Dan Martinelli’s 37-year career at MHS that he did not have anyone qualify for state.
This season, the Mohigans have a chance to send all seven brackets — the entire team — to state, with six going for regional championships May 4, at the Region I meet, at Marilla Park.
Two — Ben Rosiello and Ataes Aggarwal — are guaranteed to go to the state tournament with performances during Thursday’s regional quarterfinals and semifinals. The state tournament will be held May 10-12, in Charleston. Sam Gorski, Hamilton Hall, Ben Shi and Jack Hudson can earn bids today.
Rosiello was the lone MHS boy to go to last year’s state tourney.
Bouncing back from the small rut the Mohigans fell in is a matter of the cyclical nature of high school sports, as well as kids buying in that tennis can be a consistently competitive sport.
“The kids now want to play and they want to improve,” Martinelli said. “It’s so hard to play more than one sport, but the kids that are playing now are very athletic. If they have a desire to play, then they’ll get better. Some kids come back and tell me they wish they would have stuck with it and gotten better.”
Getting kids to fully commit was a struggle in the past. Some strictly play tennis during the season but don’t pick up a racquet during the summer. However, Monongalia County is attempting to start middle school tennis, which would help kids gain an interest in the sport prior to getting to high school.
The likes of Parkersburg and Huntington, which are powers in West Virginia in both boys’ and girls’ tennis, have middle school or “feeder” programs that help mold players.
“Once middle school tennis comes in to play, it’ll really work,” Martinelli said. “It’ll be in the fall, and there’s so many people that want to help.”
Rosiello, Aggarwal and Hamilton will compete for regional titles today, while the doubles teams of Rosiello/Aggarwal, Hall/Gorski and Hudson/Shi will do the same.
For the University boys’ team, No. 1 singles and top-seeded Drew Hawthorne advanced to the finals and will face Rosiello. No. 2 singles Kyle Hawthorne also advanced to the finals and will face MHS’s Aggarwal.
Both Hawthornes, who are brothers, clinched berths in the state tourney.
The Hawks’ Tommy McClellan beat Gorski in an upset to advance to the finals and clinched a berth at state. Andre Barcinas will play Hall for the No. 4 singles title and the winner will advance to state.
The Hawthornes, Jackson Rutledge/Jameson Walters and Deiland Slaughter/Levi Watson also advanced to the finals.
On the girls’ side, MHS, which had the top seed in every bracket, had another stellar day. No. 1 singles Emme McKnight, No. 2 Cat Wassick, No. 3 Vinitha Joseph and No. 4 Mackenzie Sorton all advanced to the championship round.
In doubles, the No. 1 team of McKnight and Wassick, No. 2 team of Joseph and Isabella Mascari and No. 3 team of Sorton and Ashalia Aggarwal also have a chance for a regional title.
The UHS girls’ team did not win a match.
Competition will continue at 9 a.m. today, at Marilla Park. If it is raining, matches will be held at Summit Tennis Academy, on Bakers Ridge Road.
