OHSAA boys tennis: Gahanna Lincoln's Carpico places second at Division I state tournament
MASON — Trailing 1-0 and about to serve for the first time in the Division I state championship match May 28 at Lindner Family Tennis Center, Brandon Carpico had his serve broken.
It was a sign of things to come for the Gahanna Lincoln junior, whose pursuit of a second consecutive state singles title ended with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Mason senior and Yale commit Vignesh Gogineni.
In the second set of the rematch of last year’s state final, which Carpico won in straight sets, Carpico broke Gogineni’s serve twice but couldn’t hold serve in any of his attempts.
“I definitely could have served a little better,” Carpico said. “My serve definitely let me down and I think he stayed in points a little longer and was a little more consistent than I was today.”
It was the only loss this season for Carpico, whose draw included him facing three of the other top players from southwest Ohio.
Included on his docket was a matchup against Cincinnati Sycamore senior Chad Miller, a Northwestern recruit whom Carpico beat 6-3, 6-3 in a semifinal earlier May 28.
In the first set against Miller, Carpico won a long point that included him returning one shot between his legs to go up 5-2.
The loss to Gogineni was only the fourth of Carpico’s prep career. The Ohio State commit went 36-1 this spring.
“He made some great shots and made some great points, but he struggled a little bit with his serve (in the state final),” Gahanna coach Chris Schwinnen said. “He definitely had the tougher road to get to the final than Vignesh, but today was Vignesh’s day and sometimes the other player plays better. That’s what happened today.”
The other area competitors to make it to the second day of the state tournament were the doubles teams of senior Parth Patel and junior Kallan Arledge of Olentangy Orange and seniors Max Fickas and Tanish Pairu of Dublin Jerome.
In semifinals, Patel and Arledge lost to Mason’s Anish Gangavaram and Akshay Joshi 6-3, 6-2 and Fickas and Pairu lost to Sycamore’s Nick Meyers and Mark Karev 6-2, 6-4.
In a rematch of the district final, which was won by Orange, Patel and Arledge edged Fickas and Pairu 7-5, 6-4 to finish third.
In addition to facing off in matches, the doubles teams have practiced together at times, according to Arledge.
“We actually didn’t play that well, but we did enough,” Patel said. “It’s a relief.”
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Gahanna's Carpico places second at Division I state tournament
