Gazette MVP: Highland's Luke Butcher's historic senior season fueled by previous year's sectional loss

Before he could play a part in adding another positive chapter to Highland's boys tennis history, senior Luke Butcher first had to make sure a bad part of that history didn't repeat. A year ago, Butcher and Sawyer Sulzener, a freshman at the time, were seeded third in doubles at the Division I sectional level but were upset in the first round, ending their season. This year, Butcher and freshman Ani Katta were seeded second in doubles. Not only did they get past the first round, they won the sectional and went on to finish fourth at the Northeast District, making them the first Highland doubles team to reach the D-I state tournament. For that accomplishment, as well as for playing first singles in the regular season as the Hornets won the Suburban League American Conference to capture the first league crown since the program's inception in 1997, Butcher is a repeat selection as Gazette MVP for boys tennis. "Don't remind me," Butcher said of losing in the first round at sectionals in 2024, "but I have a little theory about that, even if it's mostly speculation." Here's that theory in a nutshell: Butcher and Sulzener lost in the first round to a team from St. Ignatius a year ago, and one of the Wildcats was playing doubles again this season. Though Butcher was playing with Katta this season, and though the Wildcats could have put themselves in a bracket where they would have faced fourth-seeded Massillon Jackson in the quarterfinals, they chose to go against Highland. "I can't say they were coming after us for sure," Butcher said, "but I definitely used that as motivation — and I made sure to tell Ani about it. I told him Ignatius just jumped us, or at least we think they did. I told him what happened last year and he said, 'We've got to beat them.'" A 5-foot-8, 140-pounder who almost always has a smile on his face, Butcher did not want his senior season to end the way his junior season had. When he and Katta successfully got past the first round in 2025, he was elated to beat St. Ignatius' Reynaldo Guillermo, who was on the team that beat him and Sulzener, and Cody Hodge 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Not only did that win secure a district berth, it helped lessen the pain from the previous year. "On my end, it was definitely nerves," Butcher said of the 2024 loss. "That (St. Ignatius) team was better than we were expecting, and that's part of it. It was nerves, for sure, and my serve was so weak that day. We had a lot of unforced errors, too. "Basically, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. It was not my favorite match, let's put it that way. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, but I was glad it happened my junior year and not my senior year. I thought we had a really good chance of going to districts and I was definitely disappointed, but it was definitely motivating going into this year." Having gotten past Ignatius, Butcher and Katta were far from done. They went on to win their semifinal match, then downed St. Edward's Sean Curran and Zoard Vasarhelyi 6-0, 6-7 (5), 6-0 to win a sectional championship. "The wind that day was a big factor," Butcher said. "When we saw (third-seeded) Ed's go up big and beat (top-seeded) Jackson (in the semifinals), we were like, 'Uh-oh,' because Ed's looked very good. "But the windier it got, the better we were playing, especially because Ani has a slice serve and I have a kick serve. We positioned ourselves so we were both serving with the wind, and that really helped." The next week, Butcher and Katta won their first two matches at districts to lock up a state tournament berth, joining Aris Spirtos and Rodney James, who qualified in D-II in 2006, as the only Highland doubles teams to do so. "That was the best we'd ever played together, especially that second match," Butcher said. "Ani was a beast at the net." Two days later, with Butcher missing his high school graduation ceremony, the Highland duo returned and lost two matches to finish fourth. The Hornets then lost in the first round of the state tournament at the College of Wooster, but that didn't detract from what Butcher and Katta had accomplished. "Coming out as a four (seed), you're going to get, at best, the two (seed) from Cincinnati or Columbus," Butcher said. "All those teams are probably top-four teams in the state. It is what it is at that point. We were just glad we were going (to state). "It was so cool. There was a lot of good tennis, so it was fun to watch. Then it's, 'We've got to go play a match today.' You see all these great players, then you get to be one of them for a little bit." If the 18-year-old Butcher sounds like an intelligent young man, it's because he is. Planning to major in computer science and engineering at Ohio State, he carried a 4.69 grade-point average at Highland and scored a 1560 on the SAT, which places him in the 99th percentile. "He is the perfect teammate," Hornets coach Lisa Reynolds said. "He looks out for everyone before himself. He's positive, but he's also pragmatic. He's very aware of what's going on. "He was always consistent, but he developed. He goes forward to the net very well and he developed a very good kick serve. That helped him go from a consistent player to an offensive-minded one, and his defense helped him stay in points against the better players." Butcher played second singles his first two years of high school behind three-time Gazette MVP Elijah Hadler, who would have won the award four times had the coronavirus pandemic not canceled his freshman season. Now a three-time All-Gazette choice and two-time MVP, Butcher had some of his toughest matches as a senior before the regular season began. He and Katta played three challenge matches, with Butcher winning the final two games to win a pro set 8-7 in the first one, with Highland coaches not requiring the normal two-game margin. Katta won the next one 8-1. "He destroyed me," Butcher said. "I was leaving everything short and he was coming in and destroying me from inside the baseline." In the third meeting, which was best-of-three sets, Butcher prevailed 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, meaning he would play first singles in the regular season, with Katta at No. 2. "Since I played (No.) 1 last year, it would have been pretty disappointing to play (No.) 2," Butcher said. "It's whatever is best for the team, right? But me personally, I did not want to play (No.) 2." A brilliant student, Butcher also was smart enough to realize it would be virtually impossible to repeat as Gazette MVP if he didn't occupy the top position on his own team. "I thought about that a bit," he said with a sheepish laugh. "It came across my mind once: 'If I lose this, it's going to be Ani (as MVP).'" Despite their highly competitive challenge matches, Butcher and Katta quickly became good friends and ended up forming a very good doubles team. "That third one was the most intense match we ever played, but at the end there was no bad blood," Katta said. "He's a great teammate and he always tried to help me get better. If I made mistakes, he told me to get past them and move on. "We talked pretty early (about playing doubles in the postseason) and we're both very happy with the results. Making states was the overall goal, and we did that." Also a two-time All-Gazette pick in golf, Butcher would not be surprised to see Katta return to the College of Wooster over the next three years. "He's already where I'm at now as a freshman," Butcher said. "Give him three more years and I wouldn't be surprised if he goes to state a couple more times, by himself even (in singles). "From the first time I ever hit with him, I was like, 'We'd be a pretty good doubles team.'" That ended up being true as Butcher and Katta added another chapter to Highland's boys tennis history, but Butcher would like to be remembered for another reason. "Sportsmanship is a big thing to me," he said. "That's something that I take pride in. I try to be a good guy on and off the court, so hopefully people will look at how I was as a person, as a leader of the team. I hope they remember that more than any of the accolades or accomplishments." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.