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University and Morgantown both win doubles titles on 1st day of OVAC boys’ tennis tournament

GLEN DALE — The top pairing for the University boys’ tennis team took first place at the OVAC Tennis Tournament on Wednesday at John Marshall.

The Hawks’ duo of Kalman Nagy and Andrew McClellan defeated Morgantown’s Wyatt Abbitt and Max Chen 8-3 in the championship match to claim the No. 1 doubles title.

“I’ve not seen a doubles team play so hard for each other,” UHS coach Tom McClellan said. “When one was down, the other was up. There was never any negativity, it was all positive. It was the most complete match they’ve played all year.”

Linsly (Class 1A-4A) and Morgantown (Class 5A) lead the OVAC boys’ tennis tournament after the first day of competition. Singles action begins today at 8 a.m. and champions will be crowned in the late afternoon.

In the 9-team big school portion of the two-class event, the Mohigans hold a slim advantage, 9-7, over inner-city rival University. Each school won a title as the Mohigans’ Max Warner and Ronan Rogers claimed the No. 3 title with a 9-8 (2) win over Dover’s Jeremy Cappel and Arden Klaiber.

Dover (4) sits third in the big school, with Marietta and Wheeling Park (3) right behind. Brooke (2) is sixth and John Marshall and Parkersburg South tied for seventh with 1. Steubenville failed to score.

The Cadets totaled eight points on the first day to lead Cambridge (5) in the small school team race. Steubenville Catholic (2) was the only other school to score in the 8-team field. East Liverpool, Indian Creek, St. Clairsville, Weir and Wheeling Central have yet to make the scoreboard.

Linsly’s No. 2 doubles tandem of Wesley Palmer and Andrew Hoang won a title with an 8-3 triumph over the Cambridge duo of Markel Villaplos and James Goggin. The No. 1 team duo of Luis Brulles and Jaycob Sauvageau fell in the semifinals to eventual champions McClellan and Nagy of University.