Wyomissing’s Dan Trifoi captures District 3-AA singles title

HERSHEY>> It’s hard to assess the postseason journey of Wyomissing’s Dan Trifoi without going back a couple of Tuesdays, to the Berks League singles final against Exeter’s Jonah Buczewski.

That day, Buczewski worked Trifoi over early and still held a lead early into the third set before the skies opened up and washed out play. When it resumed, the next day, Trifoi was a different player. He blew by Buczewski to capture the Berks title and fly into the District 3 tournament as the top seed in Class AA.

That momentum carried over to the district tournament.

Trifoi capped a masterful weekend of tennis Monday afternoon at Hershey Racquet Club by capturing the D-3 AA singles crown with a 6-2, 6-1 win over East Pennsboro’s Logan Gouse.

Trifoi had reached the finals earlier Monday with a 6-1, 6-0 whitewash of Berks mate Bailey Boyer of Schuylkill Valley in the AA semifinals. Boyer had a memorable Saturday to reach Monday’s semis as the only unseeded player in the field, either classification.

Trifoi has played nearly invincible tennis since returning from that weather suspension against Buczewski, two Wednesdays ago, in the Berks final. He picked apart Bailey in 45 minutes Monday before grinding down Gouse with a series of crushing forehands that either kept East Penn’s ace pinned deep or moved him from side to side. Trifoi’s service game was on point as well — he was not broken his entire stay in Hershey. He won 24 of 25 contested games during Saturday’s opening two rounds and followed that up with a 24 of 28 showing Monday.

Wyo’s senior picked up the mantle left by graduated classmates Andre Fick and Ricardo Saad in winning the school’s fifth consecutive district crown.

“Coming from playing so poorly in that match (against Buczewski before the storms) to now, I feel like Djokovic out there,” Trifoi said. “It just feels like everything is clicking right now, especially indoors here at Hershey. I’m really liking the fast pace, especially when I get a sitter. I feel like I’m able to take control of the point. I can play some really aggressive tennis with the fast pace. Especially with my second serve.

“I kept telling myself that this is where I wanted to be. It’s finally my turn to turn it on.”

Trifoi’s opponent in the Berks final, Buczewski, fell short of AAA gold Monday with a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Manheim Twp.’s Griffin Clark in the semifinals, but recovered to clinch a PIAA berth in the third-place match against Cumberland Valley’s Milo Nagle with a 6-4, 7-6(3) verdict.

Buczewski was never able to get into any kind of sustained flow against Clark, who later went on to lose the AAA final to Dallastown freshman Holden Koons.

“Griffin played me really, really well,” Buczewski said. “I wasn’t dealing with his service well; with my Western forehand I had trouble getting under that ball. I had to move forward more. … It was more the forehand, racquet head speed, I guess. I usually adapt well on the court, so it was little frustrating I couldn’t figure it all out today.

“I have to stay hungry. There’s a lot of things to look forward to in the future.”

Wyo had its No. 2 player reach the AA semifinals and also clinch a PIAA berth with a third-place win. Sergio Perez-Sanchez lost to Gouse 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in the semifinals before clipping Boyer 6-0, 6-1 for the final state berth.

Boyer, Schuylkill Valley’s unseeded and unheralded player, put together a nice run on Saturday to return Monday. He beat Drew Kopan of Lancaster Country Day and then Kopan’s teammate George Markley over the weekend to reach Monday’s AA semis — where he ran into Trifoi’s buzzsaw.