Longtime Beachwood tennis coach David Cole left the school a few years ago but returned in 2023 and the Bison already have shown marked improvement.
After winning just two matches in 2022, the Bison already have 12 wins this fall and recently placed fourth in the rugged Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division tournament.
“I have been with the Beachwood boys and girls for a long time and then I ended up at Mayfield High School for the three years before this,” Cole said. “I brought my Mayfield team over to play Beachwood last year and I know a lot of those girls from teaching private lessons and Beachwood being on the courts a lot. I was disappointed I thought with the competitiveness of the Beachwood team. We beat them very badly and it shouldn’t have been like that based on some of the girls I that I know. Some of the parents from Beachwood kind of reached out to me and they were disappointed in their season, and one thing led to another, and I came back to Beachwood to do the girls in addition to the boys. We seem to have the program back on track.”
Cole’s return to Beachwood paid immediate dividends.
The Bison have returned to their competitive ways and their performance at the CVC tournament was impressive considering just how stacked the Chagrin Division is in terms of talented players and teams.
Beachwood won the second doubles title and finished as the runner-up in first doubles. All three of their singles players finished among the top five.
The Bison scored just nine points at the 2022 CVC tournament but finished with 24 this fall, just one point behind third-place Chagrin Falls.
“It was unbelievable,” Cole said. “I thought it was a great culmination of what these kids have done this season. We went in there and lost to a good Chagrin Falls team by one point, and we lost to a really well-coached Orange team by two or three points. A lot of the parents from those schools came up to me and they said Beachwood is back, and we’re happy that Beachwood is back because Beachwood is traditionally a competitive program and it should be a competitive program.”
Beachwood’s Ida Chang and Arianna Preston teamed up to win at second doubles. The Bison defeated the Chagrin Falls team in the championship match, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
That comeback win is representative of what the Bison have accomplished this season after a tough 2022.
“Ari Preston is such a good athlete and has been a really good leader for the team this year,” Cole said. “Her partner, Ida Chang, will fight for every point every shot, and contest everything. It was a great three-set victory against a good Chagrin team.”
Charlotte Doughty and Amy Zhou teamed up to place second at first doubles, Eva Zheng and Jessie Gao both finished fourth at second and third singles, respectively, and Shryea Chellu placed fourth at first singles.
Cole has a problem on his hands as the Bison have several other quality players who can’t crack the varsity lineup.
“They just can’t get in the lineup because these girls are doing so well,” Cole said. “We’ll play a match on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so I’ll tell the girls to take Friday off and we’ll practice on Sunday to get ready for the Monday match. They’ll say, “Coach, we want to practice on Friday, and we want to practice on Sunday. Last Sunday, we went from 4:00 to 5:30 and they wouldn’t get off the court. I said I’m going home, I can’t stand up anymore and they’re still playing. Who wouldn’t want to coach this team?”
