East Liverpool senior Brady Dawson (left) and sophomore Garrett Cooper are headed to the Div. II state doubles tournament which starts Thursday in Cincinnati. (Submitted Photo)

EAST LIVERPOOL — East Liverpool’s Brady Dawson knew he wanted to get to the state tennis tournament ever since his brother Preston went twice during his high school career.

With help from sophomore doubles partner Garrett Cooper, the senior who is in love with the game of tennis made his dream come true.

“Brady is crazy about tennis,” Cooper said. “He loves tennis deep down and I knew it was extremely important to him, not only for his brother who went, but for himself because I knew that’s what he really wanted. He just loves the sport.”

Preston Dawson made it as a doubles player with Norman Butler in 2021 and Cole Dailey in 2022. That’s just about the time, Brady got really into tennis.

“I started playing my freshman year,” Brady Dawson said. “Obviously I saw my brother go to state and I wanted to be like that so I picked up a racket for the first time and started playing with him and since then it’s the only sport I’ve ever played and I fell in love with it that summer. It’s the only sport I’ve really, truly enjoyed.”

The Potter pair, who was the third seed in the four-team district tournament, got to the state tournament by winning the Div. II district tournament with 6-7 (9-11), 6-2, 6-2 semifinal win over Hiland’s Clay Lehman and Quinn Mullett and a 6-0, 6-1 win over Mavrik Malin and Caiden Straub from St. Clairsville in the final.

Each match went 2 1/2 hours in the nearly 90-degree heat at Dover’s City Park.

“I like it to be a little bit more hot than cold, especially when playing tennis,” Brady Dawson said. “But we were definitely worried about craps which I felt in the last set.”

Cooper said their opponents didn’t seem phased by the heat, but by the end of the second match the Potters were feeling it.

“For us in general, we were pretty tired,” Cooper said. “In fact, at the end, we both cramped up pretty bad after celebrating. We just never experienced something like that.”

St. Clairsville had beaten East Liverpool 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the sectional semifinal the week before.

“We knew we could beat them even though we didn’t win,” Cooper said. “We knew they were a little cocky because they had won before. So we just kind of went in there and celebrated every single point to get into their heads and then it was a battle because we never played in heat like that.”

It certainly wasn’t a bad showing for a team that only played four times together before going to the tournament. Brady Dawson was the Potters’ first singles player and only lost once all season. Cooper played second singles and did not lose.

“I like playing doubles a lot more,” Brady Dawson said. “It’s a lot more technical and you have to think more. I like that side of tennis a lot more than just hitting the ball hard.”

The Potter team won against West Branch and Canfield’s first doubles teams earlier in the season but at the OVAC tournament the team won against Indian Creek before losing to a very good team from Morgantown in University.

“When we lost to University we were pretty down because they just were crazy (good) and that really upset us,” Cooper said. “It kind of taught us to take a step back and accept the defeats and get better over time.”

Brady Dawson said that Cooper has taken to the pairing very well and he’s happy he’s adapting and playing well.

“So I was nervous about him going into the season, but Garrett’s really been great over the season and I’ll guarantee you he’s going to be much better than me by the time he’s a senior,” Brady Dawson said.

Cooper has loved the senior leadership from his partner.

“Oh, he’s a great leader,” Cooper said. “He pumps me up after I miss the point or I’m mad about myself. He makes me stay positive. He’s a great kid.”

The state tennis tournament is set for Thursday and Friday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason near Cincinnati. It’s the first time the tournament is being played at the professional facility since 2022.

“I’ve seen the courts and they are absolutely stunning, so I’m ecstatic to go down and actually be on those courts, the same ones the pros have been on,” Brady Dawson said.

As for the competition, the two know that it will be an uphill battle.

“Competition-wise, we know we don’t have the best chance in the first round because, I mean, those kids are crazy down there. But we’re still going to fight it out and do the best we can,” Cooper said.

NOTES

• Brady Dawson’s favorite tennis player is Carlos Alcaraz.

“I like his energy. He hits the ball hard. He has lots of energy. He makes tennis fun to watch,” Brady Dawson said.

• The Potters first match up is Dayton Oakwood’s Oren Watson and Ronin Boehne. That team finished fourth in its district.