Kirtland’s tennis team opened the defense of the Chagrin Valley Conference title it won last season with a 3-2 victory over visiting Harvey on Monday.
Junior Kyle Lutz won at second singles and the doubles teams of Octavian Dunca and Lauren Lutz and Alex Weaver and Mike Schnur all won their matches to seal the team win.
“It was a great win for the team,” said first-year coach Bob Lasecki. “It was the first for Mike and Alex, Octavian and Lauren, and Kyle. Our doubles teams did awesome.”
Weaver and Schnur, both seniors, defeated Rick Beamer and Leo Pachoe, 6-2, 6-3. Dunca and Lauren Lutz, both juniors, won their match against Zach Wilson and Jordan Spondiko, 6-0, 6-1.
“Mike and Alex have good chemistry and it paid off today,” Lasecki said. “Octavian has played doubles before and that really helped Lauren get comfortable as the match went on.”
Lutz was pleased to collect her first varsity win.
“It feels really great to be able to actually help the team and contribute with a win,” she said. “Me and my partner hadn’t played together before the match so we had a lot of communication we needed to do. But other than that, I think we just tried to have fun with it so we didn’t stress out too much about it.”
Kyle Lutz, a junior, lost the first set, 6-7, then pulled out 7-5 and 6-0 wins to clinch the match.
“Kyle’s match went two hours and was at 5-5 in the second when he really started to play,” Lasecki said. “The strings on his racket broke and Mike Schnur let him use his ‘Magic Salmon’ racket. Kyle goes on to win the second 7-5 and then wins 6-0 to get the ‘W.’”
Sophomores Justin Aranavage and Reid Friedenberg both fell in singles play, 0-2.
“Justin and Reid played two tough matches and played much better than the score indicates,” Lasecki said. “This is a great bunch of kids, all 26 of them. They like to play tennis and enjoy each other’s company. Coach Harvey and I love our new coaching positions.”
