Sports

Gold team ties for first at Coaches Classic

Alex Wittenbaum • May 2, 2014

The whole team woke up in the early hours of the morning on Sat. Apr. 26 to support their teamates in the finals and semifinals. Individual champions were Noah Stern, 9, and Mustafa Ahmad, 12 at First Doubles, and Alex Wittenbaum and Aditya Venkitarama, both 11, at Second Doubles. The team will take on Columbus Academy and St. Xavier in the upcoming weeks. Photo courtesy of Joe and Linda Stern. — The whole team woke up in the early hours of the morning on Sat. Apr. 26 to support their teamates in the finals and semifinals. Individual champions were **Noah Stern**, 9, and **Mustafa Ahmad**, 12 at First Doubles, and **Alex Wittenbaum** and **Aditya Venkitarama**, both 11, at Second Doubles. The team will take on Columbus Academy and St. Xavier in the upcoming weeks. Photo courtesy of Joe and Linda Stern.

Nakul Narendran,12 got to the finals of the Second Singles bracket, which helped the team tie for first place. Photo courtesy of Joe and Linda Stern. — **Nakul Narendran**,12 got to the finals of the Second Singles bracket, which helped the team tie for first place. Photo courtesy of Joe and Linda Stern.

The Varsity Gold tennis team was blessed with two sunny, warm days as they competed in the annual Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association (GCTCA) Coaches Classic tournament.

The GCTCA Coaches Classic is a tournament in which each team from around the city competes in a separate flight. Within each flight, there are five brackets, and each team accumulates points by winning matches in their bracket.

“We really had great weather for play, and the conditions were perfect. Noah Stern, 9, and I played really solid doubles to help propel the team to first place,” said Mustafa Ahmad, 12.

Mason and Sycamore both finished tied for first place with a total of 170 points. Mason did own the tiebreaker though, because their first singles had a better result than SHS.

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“We have confidence as a team that we all played well, even though we did not officially get first place,” said Stern.

Moving forward, the Aves will take on Columbus Academy at home on May 2, and St. Xavier on May 7. Both teams are currently ranked top ten in the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) state rankings.

“These matches will both be tough, but I am confident in my team because we have proven that we can fight and play well at any time together,” said Ahmad.

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