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Avon finishes season undefeated and wins CCC West championship

Avon freshman Liam Hovorka returns a shot during Friday’s CCC West match against Farmington. Hovorka won in a third set tiebreaker in his No. 1 singles match.

AVON, May 21, 2021 – Avon High boys tennis coach Vinnie Costello understands the challenges that are in front of the Falcons when they take the tennis court each spring.

In the Central Connecticut Conference’s Western Division, the Falcons must face Glastonbury, Southington, Conard and Hall  – all Class LL schools — along with Farmington and Simsbury, who compete at the Class L level.

In recent Class M tournaments, Avon has come so close to winning a state championship. They’ve finished second five times in the last six tournaments (2014-19). In 2019, the Falcons tied for second place, one point behind eventual champion Joel Barlow.

In 2021, the Falcons have been up to the challenge. Avon completed their first undefeated season since 2013 on Friday with a 6-1 win over Farmington at Avon Middle School. It also gave the Falcons (15-0) the CCC West championship with a 7-0 record. Glastonbury finished second in the CCC West with a 6-1 mark.

“It’s super hard those are double LL schools (in the CCC West),” Costello said. “We like those challenges during the season to improve our kids in a big way.

“We worked really hard to get where we are at,” he said. “We had a goal set (to win the CCC West) and we accomplished that goal. Once we get to 15-0, then we worry about seedings and the (Class M) state tournament.”

The CIAC tournaments get underway on Friday, May 28, and Avon will likely be a No. 2 seed with home court advantage for virtually the entire tournament. The tournament format will be different in 2021 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In previous years, individual players would work their way through a singles and doubles tournament earning points for their team with each win they earned. This year, to minimize crowds that come together in one location, it will be a strictly dual meet tournament – similar to what the CIAC girls tennis tournaments have been for many years.

“It will be different for us,” Costello said. “I don’t know what to expect and not knowing what to expect is also a good thing. Hopefully, we will get a good draw and it will be one match at a time and keeping winning our way to the final.”

Avon’s Will Mathias didn’t lose a game at No. 2 singles on Friday against Farmington as Avon beat the River Hawks, 6-1.

Avon was tested against a tough Farmington team and they passed most of them.

At No. 1 singles, Avon freshman Liam Hovorka cruised through the first set winning all six matches. But in the second set, Farmington’s Jerry Zhang refused to yield and tied the match with an 8-6 win in a tiebreaker. Hovorka prevailed in a quick third set tiebreaker, 10-1 to win the match.

Hovorka, who finished the season undefeated at 14-0, was down 5-2 in the second set and rallied to tie the match at 6-6.

At first doubles, Avon’s Thejas Nair and Amaan Baweja lost the first set, 7-6 but rebounded to tie the match with a 6-2 win the second set. Nair and Baweja prevailed in the third set tiebreaker, 10-8.

Ali Rizvi and Ravi Corrie at second doubles won their first set, 7-5 before blowing open the match with a 6-0 win in the second set.

Avon’s Amaan Baweja, left, and Thejas Nair won their No. 1 doubles match against Farmington on Friday in a third-set tiebreaker.

Will Mathias, Dylan Karp and Tej Raman each won in singles for the Falcons, losing just four games between them.

Farmington did earn one point with Gautham Santhanam and Richard Jiang erasing a one-set deficit to beat Avon’s Aadarsh Senthil and Vishant Kandipilli in a third set tiebreaker, 10-7.

Avon is thrilled to have run the table with an undefeated season and is ready for the next challenge.

“We feel pretty good,” Hovorka said. “As long as we can continue to focus on winning each match and supporting each when we’re not playing, we’ll be OK. I think it is important to lift each other up. We can do well in the tournament.”

Avon has now won 16 straights matches dating back to the final match of the 2019 season. Avon’s most recent conference championship came in 2018 when the Falcons, Farmington and Glastonbury shared the CCC West Colonial title with a 5-2 record. In 2017, Avon won the CCC Central White title with a 8-1 mark.

Avon 6, Farmington 1
At Avon
Singles: Liam Hovorka (A) def. Jerry Zhang 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 10-1; Will Mathias (A) def. Roshan Krishnan 6-0, 6-0; Dylan Karp (A) def. Karthik Pyneni 6-1, 6-1; Tej Raman (A) def. Aditya Kumarappan 6-0, 6-2
Doubles: Thejas Nair and Amaan Baweja (A) def. Abhi Mannam and Rick Duan 6-7, 6-2, 10-8; Ali Rizvi and Ravi Corrie (A) def. Tom Kot and Vedansh Patel (Farmington) 7-5, 6-0; Gautham Santhanam and Richard Jiang (F) defeated Aadarsh Senthil and Vishant Kandipilli 5-7, 7-5, 10-7
Records: Avon 15-0, 7-0 CCC West; Farmington 11-4, 4-3 CCC West

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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