2025 Playoff Review - 18+ 3.0 District Results!

Congrats to the NEO, NWO, and OHVA District Champions! How'd it all go down? And who is making the trip to State? Let's find out!

NEO - August 1st-3rd

#1 - NCRC

#2 - MVRC

#3 - MM1

#4 - MM2

WC - LaTuchie

Unlike the other districts, NEO went with a one-and-done bracket rather than the traditional round robin format, which saw Friday night's opener versus LaTuchie and rapidly rising Medical Mutual take center stage as the Wild Card's from Stow travelled to nearby Western Reserve Racquet Club to take on the downtown urbanites from Cleveland State's Med Mutual!

Not surprisingly, the newbies from Med Mutual2 (not to be confused with Med Mutual1!) were just happy to be there as their rapidly ascending club was enjoying playoff success left and right (and, as they're based in Cleveland, center as well). And not surprisingly as well, the veterans of LaTuchie would take advantage of said happiness with some ruthlessly efficient 3.0 tennis!

In a super close 3.0 match, the newbies came out strong, splitting singles before splitting the first two doubles courts, notably impressive as they were able to take out 3.0 playoff vet Alan on court two! But LaTuchie's Captain Eric, a veteran of the 3.0 tennis wars, held his own on court one and thanks to former Singles Player of the Year Scott - now playing doubles! - on court three, LaTuchie was able to enjoy the mild upset to advance their season. JUST AS WE PREDICTED!

Saturday's semi-finals saw #1 seed NCRC sweep the emotionally spent squad from LaTuchie while Captain Dave, nursing an injury, inspired his Med Mutual1 squad to the upset victory of the bracket, taking out highly-regarded Paramount Westlake 4-1! Med Mutual's Jeff was able to outduel hard hitting Captain Ryan at 1st Singles while usual singles star Abe helped secure a big win at 1st Doubles! Meanwhile, rapidly-rising-singles stalwart Eric secured the match victory with a come-from-behind THIRD SET SUPER TIEBREAK!

Thus, Sunday's final would be top seed NCRC with their multitude of 20+ match winners versus one of the rapidly rising clubs in all of NEO, Med Mutual! In a closely contested 3-2 championship final, Captain Noah went strong, and he of 15+ singles wins this season was able to use his precision to get NCRC on the board first at 1st Singles while one of the top tag team duos in all of O-H-I-O, Jerome and Michael, with well over 10+ wins together, did just that, giving NCRC a quick 2-0 lead! But Med Mutual rallied back (quite literally) and inspired by 90+ winner Adnan at 3rd Doubles, won the other doubles courts to even the final up at 2-2! But in singles, the consistency of NCRC's Aniket was able to come from behind and take out one of the best singles players not just in NEO and O-H-I-O, but the entire Midwest to give NCRC it's fourth ever District Championship!

NWO - August 3rd

#1 - Twos Athletic Club

#2 - Southview H.S.

#3 - Perrysburg T.C.

In a dramatic final day showdown, Perrysburg T.C. was able to enter as the #3 seed thanks to a final match 3-2 victory! The top seeds, though, were two traditional NWO powerhouses, Captain Kris' Twos, the Flight champ and District runner-up last season, and Captain Jacob's Southview, not only the winningest Captain in 3.0 history but a thorn in Two's 3.0 tennis side for many a 3.0 year!

Perrysburg, no doubt physically and emotionally spent after their whirlwind final three weeks just to make the playoffs, put in valiant efforts but fell 0-2 when the Sunday round-robin was said and done - but what a ride it was!

Which meant it was a repeat showdown of the 2024 event when Captain James' Southview overcame top seed Twos to claim his record setting 7th District crown! But Captain Kris of Twos had other things in mind (which, generally), is a good thing when you're in a competitive environment when you actually want to, well, win.

Southview star Ajay, he of over 10+ singles wins on the year, helped split the singles courts as the match started off 1-1 and thanks to 3.0 veteran Arturo at 3rd Doubles, Southview looked well on their way to another District title! Captain Kris had The Brother's Swick at 1st Dubs, who confused their opponents with their brotherly communication, and himself and Mike at 2nd Doubles, one of the top tag teams in all of NWO to avenge 2024 and make 2025 all theirs with the District Championship!

OHVA - August 1st-3rd

Columbus, which won 40+ Districts - and State! - for the first time ever in 2024, looked to do the same in 18+, and both Columbus-based teams came out strong! Enjoying home cooking as the event took place in C'bus, and in fact took place in their home courts of top seed Elysium, Captain Puchha's squad got the raucous crowd (we assume they were raucous just like we assume there was a crowd ... what else would people be doing at 11am on a Friday?!) on their feet with a 4-1 win over the perennial favorites, Schroeder T.C.! A few hours later, Captain Fred's Scarborough, another C'bus favorite, took out Dayton's Five Season's by the same scoreline! Captain Fred then backed that victory up with another 4-1 win over Charleston to end the day 2-0 while Captain Tim's Schroeder got back in the mix with a close 3-2 victory over Captain Alan's Five Season's.

Day two would see the home team led by Captain Puchha put themselves into the top spot with another convincing win, this time over Five Season's while Captain Fred's Scarborough would end Schroeder's repeat dreams with yet another 4-1 victory. The Sunday showdown would be complete as Elysium swept Charleston to ensure two 3-0 teams would match up on Sunday to determine who would be the new champion of NWO!

Thanks to the home cooking, Elysium got off to the fast start thanks to Srivaishnavan, who earned a come from behind THIRD SET SUPER TIEBREAKER win! Abhijith and John, who had gone undefeated thus far, continued their undefeated tandem streak with another comeback THIRD SET SUPER TIEBREAKER win! DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?!

Yes, yes Elysium indeed does for Steven and Ajay, linking up for the second time this event, went down early but - can you believe it?! - had their own come from behind THIRD SET SUPER TIEBREAKER WIN! WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING!

Thanks to this amazing result, Elysium won their first ever District championship!

Congrats to all the participants and good luck at the upcoming State Championships in Perrysburg!