High Schools

DAYTON — It was a tennis match of huge proportions, at least by high school standards — or so it seemed.

Vandalia Butler ace Andy Jackson was pitted against Springfield North's unbeaten Lee Dixon. Dixon entered the match with a 16-0 record. He was aiming to be the first unbeaten North player since 1966, according to coach John Woodburn. He met his match in the Aviator junior.

The savvy Jackson smudged Dixon's record in a 6-2, 6-1 rout on Tuesday, May 6. The match had to be moved to Dayton Center Courts because of rain in Vandalia.

"We had played each other two years ago and we had a few bumps along the way (line calls) and that didn't go over well," Jackson said. "I wanted to take him down fast and get off the court. I got control early, got the serve and volley going and returned everything to his feet.

"My best weapon was my serve," Jackson said. "I was able to do anything with it and able to put it where I wanted with some power."

Jackson improves to 14-1 and admits he has enjoyed the luxury of playing tougher competition than Dixon. His only loss came to Mark Goldberg of Beachwood (near Cleveland), a national-caliber player. He also dispatched a quality player Monday in Beavercreek's Tony Walters in preparation for Dixon.

"Andy displayed a lot of variety, controlled the ball and kept Dixon out of position, putting it below the net," said Butler coach Larry Jackson, Andy's father.

Dixon seemed a little rattled by Jackson's shot-making.

"I haven't played a big hitter like that in a while," Dixon said. "They teach tons of top spin in Dayton and he had some. The big thing was I couldn't finish and had some unforced errors. I'll learn from this and it will help in the tournament."

Butler, the No. 1 team in the area coaches poll, claimed the match 5-0. Others registering wins for the Aviators were Colin Imwalle (6-2, 6-2 over David Fish), Jeff Mable (6-0, 6-1 over Ben Yu), Matt Dutro and Kyle Robbins (6-1, 6-1 over Rohit Nezhad and Krishna Vellanki) and Winston Imwalle-Lenny Sokol (6-0, 6-0 over Abdul Wasey and Dustin Walker).

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2478 or rjackson@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Boys Divisions I & II tennis tournaments

Sectionals

When: May 12-17

Where: Centerville, Troy

Note: Qualifiers from each sectional to district will be four singles and four doubles.

Districts

When: May 22-24

Where: D-I at Princeton; D-II at Centerville.

Note: Qualifiers from district to state will be four singles and four doubles.

State

When: May 30-31

Where: Stickney Tennis Center, Ohio State University

Vote for this story!