Orange and Hawken both advanced a player into the Division II OHSAA state tennis championships semifinal round.
Orange’s Illia Shcherbakov opened the tournament with back-to-back wins and will face Gahanna Columbus Academy’s Nason Lo in Friday’s semifinals.
Shcherbakov began his march to the semis with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Jackson’s Landon Smith, and then he defeated Cincinnati Seven Hills’ Adi Nayak in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.
Hawken’s Axel Neely also won his first two matches and will compete in the semifinal round.
He opened the tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kettering Archbishop Alter’s Michael Shope, and then he defeated Orange’s Vivaan Moghekar in the quarterfinals, 7-6, 6-1.
Moghekar won his first match of the tournament, 6-0, 6-0.
Hawken’s doubles team of Zach Forte and Billy Beseth finished the tournament 1-1. They opened with a 6-0, 6-1 win before falling to Cincinnati Indian Hills’ Gareth Kurowski and Jeremy Starczynowski, 6-4, 6-4.
Hawks teammates Tyler Snyder and Anthony Piazza dropped their tournament opener.
