ORCHARD PARK — The Olean boys tennis team competed in the Section 6 Championships Wednesday with Janis Oswald winning every set through five matches to take the singles Class B crown.
Janis was the No. 2 seed in the 16 player bracket. He powered through all five of his matches. The closest match was the championship against No. 1 Dakshaeswar Muthukrishnan (6-1, 6-2).
He will go to the New York State tournament in New York City to play in the U.S. Open’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Thursday.
“I would love to see him make it past the first two rounds,” Olean coach Ben Wright said. “We have won many first round matches and have lost in the second round many times. The competition up there is going to be significantly better than the competition here. I still think he has higher skills that he hasn’t shown yet because of the lesser opponents that he has faced here.”
His rating in the universal tennis rankings may set him up with a bad draw which could knock him out early. “I think he is much better than his rating is currently,” Wright said.
“That’s the tough part of tennis,” Wright said. “If you are not one of the best four players in the state there is a chance you can have a really bad draw.”
As for the other Huskies, two doubles teams reached the second round before losing while another duo suffered a first round exit.
The team will have a Far West Regional matchup against Naples on Monday. With a win the team will go to NYC for the team state tournament.
“The kids have been doing really well this season, its been fun,” Wright said.