Jacob Oszust became the first Ithaca High School tennis player in five years to win the Tri Valley Conference Tournament.
“Jacob has had a great year and has been the most valuable player on our team this year,” said Ithaca tennis coach Marc Mercer.
At the TVC event, Jacob was seeded No. 4 overall and beat his Ovid-Elsie opponent in the first round for the fourth straight time.
“It was a good match and Jacob played great, winning the first set in a tie breaker.” Mercer said. “In his second round, Jacob faced the No. 1 seed from Essexville Garber. With Essexville winning the dual match earlier in the year, it looked as if this would not be a close match at all. However, Jacob stuck with their three singles player point for point and could have won the first set. He did, however, win the second set and sent it to a three setter where he won a memorable match in a back-and-forth tie-breaker.
“Once Jacob beat Garber, he was on to the finals match, where he faced Frankenmuth, a team he lost to earlier in the year in straight sets. Jacob was determined and took a close first set. In the second set, Jacob was focused and closed out very nicely. It was nice to see a player knock off a perennial giant in Essexville Garber, a team that has won almost all flights each season I have coached. I spoke with Jacob before his final match, and we talked about how beating Garber was not our only goal, and how he had bigger goals to meet. We also discussed how momentum was in his court, and he was playing great tennis.”