Defending State Champion Pomeranets leads Orange Tennis to Victory at CVC Championship

Photo by Al Kornspan

The Orange High School Boys Tennis team dominated the CVC championships behind the senior leadership of first singles player Ben Pomeranets.

Orange, the 2021 OHSAA Division II State Champions and the 2022 OHSAA State Runners Up, participated in the CVC tennis championships with Beachwood, Chagrin Falls, Harvey, Hawken and West Geauga on Saturday at Beachwood High School. 

Pomeranets, the defending 2022 OHSAA Division II State Champion, won first singles, while teammate Kish Mehra also won the CVC second singles championship.  

In addition to dominating the CVC singles titles, Orange also won the first doubles championship. Chika Nwaozuzu and Gabi Kalir won the CVC first doubles title and their teammates Ace Brock and Gabe Guiler won the CVC second doubles title.

In winning the first singles title, Pomeranets defeated players from West Geauga and Hawken. In fact, he only lost one game in winning his semifinals and finals sets by scores of 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, and 6-0. Over the past two years, the Virginia Tech commit is 28-1 in singles matches.  

 

Pomeranets talked about the success he has had as an Orange High School Tennis player.

“Last season was really tough in the state tournament,” said Pomeranets. “I played a freshman in the semifinals. Didn’t expect him to be as good as he was and he came out and he really put on a show. I ended up winning that one in the third set. In the final, I played Andrew Zimcosky (Chagrin Falls). He beat me in the finals the year before. It was a tight battle. It was a great feeling to win it last year. Hopefully, I can repeat (as state champion) this year.”

 

Orange Tennis Coach, Rich Boles, talked about the Orange Tennis team as they prepare for the state tournament.

“Obviously we think we have a number of strong contenders.  Ben Pomeranets, our number one player, is the defending state champion and we’re hopeful that he can repeat that this year, but it is going to be very tough.We also think we have a strong entry in the doubles draw with Nwaozuzu and Kalir. Nwaozuzu won the state title in doubles two years ago and Kalir was a finalist last year. This is their first year playing together so we’re working pretty hard on getting that team to work together.”

Orange Tennis will compete in the OHSAA sectionals on May 9 and May 13 at Strongsville High School.