WPIAL Tennis Championships: Butler's Nesbitt turns wind around, wins AAA crown
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Butler's Will Nesbitt defeated Pine-Richland's Bas Van Lent, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, for the WPIAL Class AAA championship Friday at Norwin.
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Will Nesbitt said he had never played tennis in winds as strong as the ones whipping through the Norwin High School courts Friday afternoon. But what happened to Nesbitt in the WPIAL tournament is what really blew Nesbitt away.
He won.
Only Butler's No. 3 singles player a year ago, Nesbitt won the Class AAA championship with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory against Pine-Richland's Bas Van Lent.
"I never expected this," Nesbitt said. "I wasn't playing very well for a while this year. I was losing to people I shouldn't and I didn't have much confidence. Things kind of just came together. This is a pretty big confidence booster."
Nesbitt, a junior, was the fifth seed for the WPIAL tournament, and he upset No. 1 seed Vivek Nimgaonkar of Shady Side Academy, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the semifinals Thursday. The title match also had to be considered an upset because Van Lent was the No. 2 seed and handily defeated Nesbitt twice this season.
"I admit I actually gave up pretty early in those other matches against him," Nesbitt said. "He was outplaying me, and I just felt there wasn't much I could do. This time, I definitely tried a lot harder."
After winning the first set, it looked as if Nesbitt was on his way to the title when he jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second. Then, Van Lent came on strong and evened the match. Nesbitt used his cautious style in the third set to run away with the win.
D.J. Goldblum of Winchester Thurston won the WPIAL Class AA title with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Dave Cenkner of Mount Pleasant. Goldblum won the championship two years ago as a sophomore, but did not compete in high school tennis last year, electing instead to play in USTA events.
"I played USTA last year mainly because I wanted to get recruited by colleges," said Goldblum, a Mt. Lebanon resident and Lehigh University recruit.
"This year, because I already decided on a college, I decided I wanted to play high school again. I wanted to give back to my school."
Goldblum didn't think he played all that well in the final, but he thought his toughest opponent was the wind.
"It wasn't holding serve today, it was holding wind," Goldblum said.
The top two finishers in Class AAA qualified for the PIAA tournament; the top three in Class AA qualified.
Chartiers-Houston's Tanya Timko finished third in Class AA with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory against Hampton's Brad Cisek. In her career, Timko had won WPIAL titles in girls singles and doubles, and also boys doubles. She lost to Goldblum in the semifinals Thursday, 6-1, 6-0.
"It was kind of my goal to just qualify for states," Timko said.
First Published April 16, 2011 1:02 am
