Northview tennis wins NLL title

Perrysburg's Schorsch takes third straight singles crown

Perrysburg junior Jeff Schorsch won the NLL's No. 1 singles title by defeating Brandon Rachwal 6-0, 6-1.

BOWLING GREEN -- Perrysburg junior Jeff Schorsch won his third consecutive Northern Lakes League tennis title Wednesday but Northview ended the Yellow Jackets' reign as team champions.

Schorsch defeated the Wildcats' Brandon Rachwal 6-0, 6-1 in the final of the No. 1 singles match at Bowling Green State University.

But Northview won its first NLL title since 2005 as both of the its doubles teams won championship finals.

Northview edged out rival Southview by one point in the overall team standings, which are based on combined dual meet points and tournament points. The Wildcats finished with 35 points, followed by Southview (34), Perrysburg (30), and Bowling Green 23.

PHOTO GALLERY: NLL tennis tournament

Schorsch, who was hoping to lead Perrysburg to a fifth straight team title, said he took a conservative approach.

"I was able to play strategically," Schorsch said. "I didn't go for much. I just tried to keep the ball in play and let him make the errors in the wind. It was tough to play in the wind. It played a big part.

"I am reaching my peak right now, I'm playing a lot better. I hope to keep it going."

Schorsch has twice qualified to the state tournament.

"He is poised do well in the next round," Weider said. "He is peaking right now. We're hoping for real big things."

Perrsyburg got a win at No. 2 singles as Troy Weider defeated Southview's M.J. Haidar 6-0, 6-2.

In the final at No. 1 doubles, Northview's team of Spencer Georgetti and Mitch Hering knocked off Southview's Niket Parikh and Sam Chang 6-3, 4-6, and 6-2. The Wildcats also won at No. 2 doubles where Mohan Sharma and Muckund Sharma teamed up to defeat Southview's Yuran Chen and John Burchfield 6-0, 7-5.

"Our doubles teams won and that was a key," Northview coach Mark Fisher said. "This was our goal at the beginning of the year and we achieved it. The hard worked paid off."

Northview entered the tournament with 14 points from a 7-0 dual meet record during the regular season.

When Southview's Mike Burchfield finished off Perrysburg's Zach Mills 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 3 singles final, he eliminated the Yellow Jackets' shot at another team title.

Burchfield's win at that point gave the Cougars a shot at their first title since 1999 and made Northview instant fans of the Bobcats.

The Wildcats needed BG's Jadon Nichols and Justin Overhaulse to defeat Perrysburg's Mitchel Skotynsky and Najeeb Ahmend in the consolation final at No. 2 doubles to secure the title.

Southview, which won the tournament title with 24 points, also would have won the overall title by a half point if the Yellow Jackets would have won the consolation match. Perrysburg would have finished second at the tournament and Northview would have been third, giving the Cougars the overall title.

With the rest of the matches completed, all attention focused on the well played, competitive match which saw BG's Nichols and Overhaulse prevail 6-3, 6-4.

"We needed some help and we got it," said Fisher, who is in his fourth year at Northview. "Bowling Green helped us today."

Fisher also credited a win by his No. 3 singles player, Shailen Shah, in the consolations final. He said Muckund Sharma had to overcome a dislocated ankle to win at No. 2 doubles.

"He played well," Fisher said. "We would have been hurting with out him."

Perrysburg had to win all three of its matches in the championship finals to take the team title.

"We were in position to win and we played our hardest. It just didn't happen," Perrysburg coach Mark Weider said.

Contact Mark Monroe at: mmonroe@theblade.com, 419-724-6354 or on Twitter @MonroeBlade.