Over a historic three days of high-stakes VHSL tennis, Bay Rivers and Peninsula District boys combined for five championships from Thursday through Saturday.
Freshman Christoph Schweitzer provided almost as much impact as any player could have. Thursday, he led Bruton to its first boys tennis team state crown with a 5-2 victory over Radford on Liberty University’s courts, winning at No. 1 singles and adding the clinching point at No. 1 doubles with Max de Winter. Schweitzer then started the event’s individual phase by joining de Winter to win a doubles semifinal.
Schweitzer began Friday with a 6-2, 7-5 singles semifinal victory over Grayson County’s Keyshawn Phipps, then joined de Winter for a 6-3, 6-4 triumph in the doubles final against Richlands’ Jack Clem and Cooper Hurst.
Schweitzer’s streak finally ended Saturday, when Clem repeated as the singles champion with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over him.
Grafton’s Christiansen takes two titles
Also at Liberty, Grafton’s Rainer Christiansen came through at the best time possible.
Thursday morning, his match at No. 1 singles went unfinished as powerful Western Albemarle ran its state championship streak to seven by shutting out the Clippers 5-0.
But Christiansen wouldn’t taste individual defeat as a Clipper. Thursday afternoon, he and John Lee halted Western Albemarle’s two-year streak of winning doubles crowns, edging Brader Eby and Wade Sturman 7-5, 7-5 in a semifinal.
Friday, Christiansen, authored a dramatic 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 1-0 (10-8) singles semifinal victory over Eby. That preceded the doubles final, in which Christiansen and Lee defeated Maggie Walker’s Alex Percey and Ethan Choe 6-4, 6-4.
Saturday, before he and his family needed to get back east for graduation, Christiansen completed a storybook 12th-grade season with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Christiansburg’s Lucas Beasley. Vastly improved this year as his school dropped from Class 4, Christiansen took his fourth consecutive region title and the Bay Rivers’ first state boys singles crown since Grafton’s Yakov Diskin won three in a row in Group AA from 2004-06.
Diskin often was coached by Christiansen’s father, Eric, who won AA doubles titles in 1997 and ’98 and soon will be Rainer’s coach with Christopher Newport.
Menchville’s Onoff rules in Class 5
Meanwhile, Menchville senior Matthew Onoff took a surprising Class 5 singles championship at Huntington Park, where his father, Thomas, is the recreation program coordinator for the city of Newport News.
Dylan Chou of Douglas Freeman, the Region C winner, was a huge favorite to repeat as the state champion, but an injury prevented him from playing his semifinal against Cox senior Neil Vanga, opening the door for an unexpected champ.
In a semifinal Friday, Onoff showed his newfound consistency by posting a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Lightridge’s Thanush Buneti.
Saturday, Onoff romped 6-0, 6-0 over Vanga of Cox, who defeated him 6-2, 6-3 indoors during a Universal Tennis Rating event last fall. It won the first state tennis crown for a Peninsula District player since Menchville’s Kip Layman won back-to-back Group AAA championships in 1991 and ’92.
Also at Huntington Park, Jamestown star Keean Buirski’s first state singles appearance was a 6-2, 6-3 Class 4 semifinal loss to Broad Run’s Neel Pasunuri. Buirski won the Region A championship in singles and in doubles with Charles Aractingi for the region team champion Eagles.
