Staff photos / Neel Madhavan Heartland Christian’s Cooper Grim (left) hits a forehand, while Poland’s Andrew Aey (right) hits a backhand during a practice session on Monday in East Palestine. Both players qualified for the Division II boys state tennis tournament that occurs this week at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

On the tennis court, Heartland Christian’s Cooper Grim and Poland’s Andrew Aey are fierce rivals. But off the court, they’re also close friends.

The pair have a lot in common, including that they were both inspired to play tennis by their mothers. Now later this week, they’ll both make the journey across the state to Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason after qualifying for the OHSAA Division II boys state tennis tournament.

For Grim, this will be his third trip to state in three years. The junior has put together an unbeaten campaign this spring and made it to the quarterfinals at state each of the past two years.

“It’s definitely not a given to make it to state,” Grim said. “I still have to work hard to get there and play good tennis. I was happy to get there again. It’s always fun to go there and be able to play in this great tournament.”

Grim earned his spot at state by winning the Division II northeast sectional tournament in Boardman — beating Aey in straight sets in the final — and then winning the Division II northeast district tournament this past weekend at Springside Athletic Club in Akron.

At districts, he cruised to a pair of 6-0, 6-0 wins in his first two matches, beating Hawken’s Matthew Chu and Canton South’s Blayten Young. He then fought off Orange’s Ilya Shcherbakov 7-5, 6-0 in the semifinal and outlasted Orange’s Vivaan Moghekar 7-6, 6-4 in the final to capture the title.

“It’s definitely a hard tournament. There’s some great players in it, so it’s not an easy tournament to win by any means,” Grim said. “Both of the players I played in the semis and finals were great players, so I was really happy with my performance there. … If I get punched, I gotta punch back and just be able to take the adversity. It wasn’t easy, but I just had to be able to recover from those tough moments and come back stronger from it.”

However, for Aey, this is his first time qualifying for state, as the senior looks to finish his high school tennis career on a high note.

“To me, honestly, it means everything. I always try to put my team and my community first, but making it to state for the first time is something truly special to me,” Aey said. “It’s something I’ve been working towards the last four years, and this year, I just got the right opportunity. I just looked at the opportunity in front of me, and I just said, ‘I can’t pass this up, I gotta give it my all and I gotta take it.'”

Aey helped lead the Bulldogs to a 13-0 record during the regular season and their seventh straight Northeast-8 Conference title. He was also named Northeast-8 Player of the Year for the fourth straight season.

He then earned his spot at state with a runner-up finish at sectionals and fourth-place finish at the district tournament. He began his foray through the bracket with a pair of straight-set wins over Orange’s Ishan Bhatt and Strongsville’s Daniel Chen, but then fell in the semifinals to Moghekar 6-3, 7-5 and in the third-place match to Shcherbakov 6-0, 6-1.

“I knew I was kind of the underdog coming into it, and I just looked at it and said, I have nothing really to lose here, so just leave it all on the table,” Aey said. “I just went out there, and I competed. I almost thought I’d be able to take (Moghekar) to a third set, but I’m very happy with the way I competed in that match. It was a tough one. He played great.

“Second match was a little bit tougher. Just physically, I was a little bit tired from playing throughout the week, just grinding out there. Wasn’t too bad. I was able to try and kind of push through, but in the end, he was a tough player to play against.”

As the No. 4 seed from the northeast district, Aey knows that he’ll again be an underdog at state. But he hopes he can make the most of his opportunity.

Aey’s first round match on Thursday comes against the No. 1 seed from the southwest district, Archbishop Alter’s Michael Shope.

“My goal is just to take it match-by-match, point-by-point and just really leave it all out there. Do what I can to really push through these matches,” Aey said. “My whole goal is to just go out there, play my best tennis, keep my mind fresh and mentally just try to be the stronger player.”

Grim, as one of the top players in Ohio in his class, has his sights set on winning the state tournament.

But he knows that the first step in doing that is finally breaking through and getting past the quarterfinals, where he’s lost each of the last two years.

“That’s been one of my biggest goals ever since middle school. One of the greatest accomplishments you can have as a junior tennis player is to win the state tournament,” Grim said. “I haven’t gotten past the quarterfinals in both of my years, but I’ve been really close. I’m there to win it. I don’t want to get third or fourth-place or anything like that. I want to go as far as I can.”

Grim’s state tournament also begins Thursday, when he’ll face southwest district No. 2 seed Tyler Lammers from Cincinnati Summit Country Day.

“I’m going to have good opponents the whole way,” Grim said. “In the first round, I’m going to play a kid from Cincinnati, and it’s being hosted in Cincinnati, so I’m sure he’ll have a lot of his supporters and friends and family come out. So I’m just going to have to be ready for anything and just have really good mental strength through that match.”