Gazette MVP: Tyler Erba in the swing of things for Highland

Tyler Erba attended Visalia Redwood High in California as a freshman, but has made himself right at home in Medina County over the last two years.The 6-foot-4 junior went undefeated in five intracounty matches this spring, providing Highland with consistently strong play at first singles — and a handful of significant doubles victories — to earn the Gazette MVP award in boys tennis.Erba compiled a 19-11 record, including 14-9 at the marquee position in the lineup, to help the Hornets finish second in the |Suburban League American Conference and become the first player in school history to claim the county honor."I truly look at Tyler coming into our program as a wonderful gift," Highland coach Lisa Reynolds said.The talented right-hander and his brother Matt moved into the district in 2017, capturing spots on the Hornets varsity team later in the school year. They immediately became key players with then-senior Matt at first singles and Tyler teaming with Nate Gillin at first doubles.Following Matt's graduation, Tyler felt comfortable and confident enough to set his sights on taking over for him."Having Matt with me last season helped tremendously," he said. "We are very close and not only is he my brother, he's my best friend."It was my goal to move into singles, so I started taking singles lessons and just practicing more singles in general."Erba's offseason dedication paid off, continuing his development that began as a freshman at Redwood, where he was named the most improved player on the varsity squad. He was an honorable mention All-Gazette selection as a sophomore.Erba opened the season by finishing second at the Highland Invitational, rattled off a five-match winning streak later in April and placed fourth at the rugged SL American Conference Tournament. He also teamed with Gillin to finish second at the Medina Doubles Tournament."I am proud of the strength that Tyler shows on the court, no matter who he plays or how he is feeling," fellow All-Gazettte honoree Gillin said. "He is a great player and does a fantastic job at the top spot on our team."In two years with the Hornets, Erba has lost only one match to a county athlete — and it comes with an asterisk — as he moved up from doubles to spend one day at first singles last season against Brunswick state qualifier Adam Slomski.Medina and Cloverleaf combined to win the first 31 Gazette MVP awards before Slomski and Erba ended their dominance. Fittingly, their skill sets are quite similar, as are their cerebral approach."I would say the secret to my success is my ability to adapt to different styles of games and find weaknesses to exploit," Erba said. "My coach at Redwood nicknamed me 'Chameleon' actually because of this."Once the postseason came around, Erba and Gillin faced a difficult decision. They had a legitimate chance to do well at the Medina Division I Sectional in singles, but opted to pair up to take care of unfinished business.In 2018, the good friends fell excruciatingly short of advancing to the Medina District, dropping a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 decision to Hudson's David Tullett and Sam Yurak in the sectional quarterfinals.Despite their best intentions, Erba and Gillin were upended in straight sets in the round of 16 by Copley's Keenen Lambert and William Yang."Knowing how well we can play together, last season did have a lot of influence on Nate and I playing doubles this year," Erba said. "Unfortunately, things didn't go our way as we made an uncharacteristic amount of mistakes and it cost us. However, I am still very proud of what we accomplished, especially getting second at the Medina Doubles."Erba added that the Hornets' runner-up showing in the conference was one of his highlights from the season, along with defeating Wadsworth (and netting three total wins over Grizzlies ace Carter Moore), beating Copley for the first time in many years and watching Mike Alcini provide the decisive singles win in a victory over Twinsburg."I'm very proud of our season," said Erba, whose career record at Highland is 36-20. "And I cannot wait for next season to start."Contact Brian Dulik at brisports@hotmail.com.