By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph Central boys' tennis team started Tuesday's district semifinal match agains No. 4 seed Park Hill just as scheduled.
At 4 p.m. on the Noyes Tennis Courts outside.
With rain clouds looming to the west, the doubles matches wrapped up, but as the singles players started, light and intermittent rain showers made things slippery.
Shortly after 5 p.m., after a brief delay, the decision was made to move the remainder of the match indoors to the courts at Genesis Health Club.
The top-seeded Indians (15-1) handled the change well, winning the top three singles matches to close the door on Park Hill in a 5-1 victory in Class 3 District 8 semifinals.
"(Park Hill) is a team we hadn't seen yet this year," Central head coach Tommy Castronovo, Jr. told St. Joseph Post after."But, I knew it was going to be tough. They're always close with us. I would say in this district they've been one of our bitter rivals."
"Last year, we played them at this time and it was roles reversed. They were the No. 1 seed, and we were the No. 4 seed. We want to play teams that make us earn it and make us have to play well to beat them, and that's what we did today."
River Flaska and Michael Tang picked up a quick win in doubles to get things going. Kevin Poggemiller and Lucas Cebulko did the same.
In the singles matches at Genesis, Flaska and Poggemiller each picked up wins in singles to make the score 4-1. Cebulko's eventual, hard fought win in singles sealed the victory for the Indians.
Central is now onto the district championship, where they will face the winner of Liberty and Park Hill South on Wednesday at 4 p.m. on the Noyes Courts.
Liberty was winning 4-2 on Tuesday evening, but that match was paused due to lightning. It will resume on Wednesday morning at 8 a.m.
Either way, Central has a great chance to bring home some more hardware in what's already been a historic 2023 campaign.
"My top two guys (River Flaska and Lucas Cebulko) are seniors, so it's going to be sad to see them go," Castronovo, Jr. admitted. "But, the way we've been playing, I want it to finish well for them and I know they want to finish the same. Today, they put the team on their back. Those two won their singles and doubles matches. So, that gave us four wins right there. Having those two at the top really helped us out a lot."
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