By Ben Stroup
The Olentangy Orange girls tennis team picked up its first OCC-Capital Division championship in program history Monday, outlasting New Albany 3-2.
Sundari Vudatala powered the Pioneers (9-6), winning a three-set thriller at second singles. Vudatala lost the first set 6-7 (4-7) before rallying for wins of 6-3 and 7-5 to seal the deal. Coupled with forfeit wins at third singles and first doubles, her win, which took three hours to earn, proved to be the difference.
“It has been a great honor to coach such an unbelievable group of athletes,” Orange coach Justin Dible said. “This team has true grit. They dig down and find ways to win. I’m not a crier, but winning tonight and clinching the title definitely had me welling up. What an amazing season.”
Big Walnut 3, Westerville South 2
The Golden Eagles notched a non-league win Monday in Westerville, topping host South 3-2.
BW winners included Macie Kercsmar, who earned a 6-0, 6-1 win at first singles; Hannah Moroz, who won 6-2, 6-1 at second singles; and Lindsey Hill, who won 6-2, 7-5 at third singles.
BOYS SOCCER
Buckeye Valley dominated the second half of Monday’s MOAC showdown against visiting River Valley, tallying three goals on the way to a 4-0 win.
After Sam Scharff broke the scoring seal in the 35th minute, the Barons (8-3-0, 6-3-0 MOAC) erupted in the second half. Mitch Rotondo scored off a feed from Scharff in the 51st minute to make it a 2-0 game, Anthony Seliskar added a little insurance five minutes later and Rotondo smoothed out the scoring summary in the 67th minute.
“We were attacking the right way early on, but we had poor execution,” BV coach Eric Staley said. “Once we cleaned everything up, we started putting them in.”
The defense, anchored by keeper Caleb King, was rock-solid in the win.
“Caleb had to come up with one big save to keep his shutout, and he made it,” Staley said. “He’s very cool back there.”
King finished with three saves in the Baron goal. Buckeye Valley, which returns to action Wednesday at Marion Harding, outshot River Valley 13-3.
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Follow Ben Stroup on Twitter @delgazette_ben.
