LEXINGTON – They jumped up and down, absolutely giddy with joy, unsure whether to chest bump or bear hug each other to the ground.
So they did neither.
That shining moment, captured on YouTube, might have been the only time over the course of three weeks that Lexington tennis stars Ethan Remy and Dylan Catanese didn’t have their act completely together.
During their tear through the Division II sectional, district and state tournaments, they went 12–0, losing just 39 games in 25 sets while being extended to a third set only once en route to the first state doubles title in program history.
Who cares if their celebration needed a choreographer’s touch? Everything about them leading up to that moment was perfectly in sync.
In a year when Ontario siblings Pablo and Hector Sanchez Vidal were another history-making doubles team, Remy and Catanese earned top honors as Co-Players of the Year on the 2024 All-News Journal Boys Tennis Team.
“What are the chances?” Lex coach Ron Schaub said. “When you think of all the schools in Cleveland and Columbus and Cincinnati … there are 250 schools, and they each enter two doubles teams in the (postseason) tournament. So that’s 500 doubles teams in the draw – and your team wins it.”
It was the last box for Schaub to check off in a Hall of Fame coaching career. Under his tutelage, the program has won a combined seven state team championships (boys and girls), made 16 Final Four appearances in the boys team tournament alone (including this spring), won the last six and 17 of 20 Ohio Cardinal Conference boys crowns and produced two state singles champions – his daughter, Melissa, in 2001 and Mason Dragos in 2015.
The only thing missing until now was a state champion doubles team. Schaub had two runner-up tandems on the girls side and the boys had one such pairing in Touby McCammon and Ward Fisher, who made it to the finals in 1991 under then-coach John Harris.
“These guys worked so hard, and that’s why it feels so good,” Schaub said. “Ethan and Dylan, c’mon, they did everything you could possibly do (to prepare for a state title run). They played every day, went to tournaments on weekends. When it was the toughest, that’s when they were at their best … the whole (state) tournament.”
The tall, rangy Catanese let very little get by him at the net, while Remy was uncanny at spraying winners from the baseline at the most crucial moments. In the final two rounds of the state tournament, he closed out four games with scorchers that were either flat-out winners or handcuffed their opponents.
Many schools put their best two singles players together for postseason doubles, and that was Lex’s battleplan this season. Developing chemistry, and doing it quickly, is as important as talent when it comes to competing for a state title.
“If you don’t have any confidence or you and your partner don’t mesh, it’s never going to work,” Schaub said. “I don’t care how talented you are.”
Remy and Catanese saved their best for last – beating Central District champs Lucas Xue and Rowan Lo of Columbus Academy 6-1, 6-4 in the state semis before toppling Northeast District champs Gabi Kalir and Ace Bloom of Pepper Pike Orange 6-2, 7-5 in the championship match.
Psychologically, though, the match that might have swung the entire tournament in Lex’s favor was the first one. Catanese and Remy beat 2023 finalists Arick Baldwin and Noah Boyce of Dayton Oakwood 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to avenge a loss in their opening match of last year’s tournament.
“We knew we were one of the top four teams (going in), but I got super nervous when it went to the third set,” Remy said. “I was thinking, oh, gosh, it can’t be a repeat of last year. Beating them gave us a bunch of confidence.”
Especially since they felt like they let one get away last year. In the 2023 match, they saw leads of 5-3 in the first set and 2-1 in the third set disappear in a 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 setback. They watched Baldwin and Boyce make it all the way to the state finals, realizing it could have just as easily been them.
“I thought about that match every day during the off-season,” Catanese said. “It drove me to be better and I wanted to win even more.
“When the (state) draw first came out I was a little worried, obviously, because we had lost to them last year. But at the same time, this is the draw we needed to do something and go far. There was a lot of pressure lifted off our chest with that win. Other than the state championship match, I was happiest with that win.”
In a show of great sportsmanship, Baldwin and Boyce sent Remy and Catanese cards congratulating them on their state title
In the end, the only thing that could stop them was Remy’s graduation. While Catanese has one year left to add to his 13 varsity doubles titles, Remy will continue his tennis career at Tiffin University. The Dragons are the top NCAA Division II program in Ohio, one of the best in the country and three-time defending champs in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Remy committed last fall, so he didn’t need to win a state title to impress coach Phil Conley and land a spot on a team that this year carried only one American on the roster.
“From everything I’ve learned about him, he’s a hard-working young man who’s not satisfied,” Conley said. “Winning a state title is a sign of that. When we (signed) him he didn’t stop working.
“I was talking to one of his coaches the other day and he was out practicing at 7 a.m. I was told. He hasn’t changed and that’s a good thing because to go to the next level requires the same repetitive work ethic.”
Conley loses five of his top six players, including two-time All-American Ruben Fonga, the No. 3 singles player in the nation. On this year’s 13-man roster the only American was from Louisville, Ky. The other players hailed from Italy, Latvia, France, Morocco, Austria, Spain, Luxembourg, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Remy, a two-time OCC Player of the Year and four-time state tournament participant, is part of a nine-man recruiting class that includes three other Americans.
“Ethan brings to the table what a lot of our international students do, too, which is hard work and perseverance on the tennis court,” Conley said.
“We’re not like basketball, where you’re only coaching one game. We coach nine different matches (six singles, three doubles). Good players have to have the ability to coach themselves when they’re on the court. Ethan’s one of those guys that you can trust, if you give him space, he knows what he’s doing out there.”
Like Remy, Catanese has no intention of resting on his laurels.
“It’s easy to think, I’ve won a state championship; there’s nothing else to do,” he said. “But I want to keep getting better and getting ready for college.”
Who knows? Maybe they’ll end up as teammates again down the road. If not, they’ll always have their state title memories – and that YouTube video, compliments of Ohio Tennis Zone founder Scott Gerber, showing the final two points of their championship match.
That video has had nearly 1,000 views and went viral in at least two households.
“My parents,” Catanese said, laughing, “have definitely watched it more than I have.”
Here’s a look at the entire All-News Journal Boys Tennis Team:
Ethan Remy, Lexington
Dylan Catanese, Lexington
Karl Etzel, Lexington: Division II state qualifier and sectional runner-up in doubles with Owan Gongwer. No. 2 singles champ for his fourth Ohio Cardinal Conference title.
Owan Gongwer, Lexington: Division II state qualifier and sectional runner-up in doubles with Karl Etzel. No. 3 singles champ for his third Ohio Cardinal Conference title.
Cooper Remy, Lexington: Division II sectional champ, district runner-up and state qualifier in singles; won No. 1 doubles with Dylan Catanese for his second Ohio Cardinal Conference title.
Pablo Sanchez Vidal, Ontario: He and his brother Hector became the first state qualifiers in the history of the boys program, finishing as Division II district runners-up and reaching the state quarterfinals in doubles for second team All-Ohio honors. Won No. 1 singles in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament for his third MOAC title, leading the Warriors to back-to-back unbeaten league seasons.
Hector Sanchez Vidal, Ontario: He and his brother Pablo became the first state qualifiers in the history of the boys program, finishing as Division II district runners-up and reaching the state quarterfinals in doubles for second team All-Ohio honors. Won No. 2 singles in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament after winning an MOAC title last year at No. 1 doubles.
Philip Etzel, Lexington: Sectional runner-up and district quarterfinalist in singles as a freshman. Won No. 2 doubles with Jake Halfhill in the Ohio Cardinal Conference Tournament.
Jake Halfhill, Lexington: Won No. 2 doubles with Philip Etzel for his second Ohio Cardinal Conference title.
Alex Ellis, Ontario: Won No. 1 doubles with Matt Bayes in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament. It was his third MOAC title at No. 1 doubles with three different partners. Ellis and Bayes also made it to districts as a tandem.
Matt Bayes, Ontario: Won No. 1 doubles with Alex Ellis in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament. Bayes and Ellis also made it to districts as a tandem.
Ben Sinchok, Ashland: Division I district qualifier in singles.
Eli Glazier, Ashland: Division I district quarterfinalist in singles.
Ty Keinath, Shelby: First team All-Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference
Dawson Gove, Shelby: Won No. 2 doubles with Toby Randall in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament
Toby Randall, Shelby: Won No. 2 doubles with Dawson Gove in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament
JT Viscioni, Ontario; Viktor Tane, Ontario; Michael Vogt, Shelby; Ben Wilkins, Shelby; Reid Wash, Ashland; Grant White, Ashland;
