The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
3 Shoremen turning heads with their play
Avon Lake’s boys tennis team has three players who are making noise this season.
And they are driven to continue to do so.
On April 7, sophomore Spencer Gray (1st singles), freshman Aidan Shoop (2nd singles) and senior Chris Bailey (3rd singles) entered the Lorain County Athletic Administrators Association tournament at Avon Lake as No. 1 seeds in their brackets.
Gray (def. Amherst’s Devan Harmych, 6-1, 6-1) and Shoop (def.. Amherst’s Nathan Athineos, 6-0, 6-0) each won easily to advance to the semifinals on April 8, while Bailey won’t compete until Day 2. But Shoop, in his first
go-around trip at the varsity level hasn’t experienced any stage fright.
“I’ve been playing pretty well,” Shoop said. “Playing with these guys this season has been really fun. As a freshman, it’s really cool being here as a No. 1 seed.”
Shoop has been ripping tennis balls off a racket since he was in second grade, when he decided this was the sport he wanted to play.
The calm and cool Shoop is 5-0 and isn’t allowing the excuse of being young to deter him. He said his greatest strength are striking volleys and “killing them at the net.”
Those fearsome volleys could result in a big season for him.
“I want to go undefeated this season and hopefully my team goal is to win the SWC,” Shoop added. “I still want to get better at returns and hopefully I can.”
For Gray, it has been a bit of a transition going from playing 2nd doubles last season alongside James Moore, to 1st singles. Avon Lake graduated 11 seniors, which opened the door for him.
“When they left, I kind of moved up,” Gray said.
“Now everything is just centered on me. You don’t have to share the blame with anyone. It’s more stressful, but I can handle it.”
With a lot of tough competition in the conference, coming out this season with a winning record would be key for Gray. He’s 4-2 and has a powerful serve.
Just like Shoop, he started playing in the second grade. And for good reason. “I have good hand-eye coordination,” he added. “So I knew it’d be a good sport for me to take up.”
Bailey is the grizzled veteran of the team. The St. Ignatius transfer is playing his second season on the Shoremen and has been playing competitively since the eighth grade. He is 4-0 and has a penchant for keeping the ball in, but acknowledged his volleys and serve are a work in progress.
Bailey was on 1st doubles with Austin Goetz last season, and echoed Gray’s sentiments about the transition moving over to singles.
“I sometimes miss being on the doubles,” he said. “But you’ve got to change sometimes. It takes a lot more stamina because you’re playing by yourself. Now you take full responsibilities for your actions, which I like and it’s fun.”
The consensus among all three is to milk every ounce of their talents, and for Bailey, a trip to districts would be the icing on the cake for his final ride.
“That would be awesome,” Bailey said. “When I was at St. Ignatius, they were a really good team and I didn’t really get an opportunity. So hopefully I can do it.”
Bailey also can see his two teammate youngsters in Shoop and Bailey climbing the mountaintop before it’s all said and done.
“They have potential to be one of the top players in the state,” he added.
Avon Lake coach Adam Slabodnick, whose team is 6-0, including a win over the always favorite Westlake, has had a front row seat watching his three Shoremen.
There was a bit of an unknown factor coming into the year, but his trio has helped put any questions to bed.
“They’ve all surprised me with the amount of work they’ve put in,” he said. “They deserve everything they earn this year. At 1st and 2nd singles and having a sophomore and a freshman, I didn’t know what to expect this year. So far it’s gone as planned. And my senior (Bailey) is great, because he’s the old wise one out there. He’s seen it all and I felt very confident with him this year. They get better every day and battle against each other at practice. It’s really fun to watch.”