Lower Merion sophs Miller, Minerva win District 1 doubles title

Philadelphia >> One week after capturing the Central League doubles championship, the Lower Merion sophomore duo of Vik Miller and Justin Minerva finished first at the PIAA Class AAA District 1 doubles championship.
The LM duo won all of their district matches in straight sets, winning the championship final 6-3, 6-1 against Wissahickon’s Andrew Tran and Vidit Makwana at the Legacy Youth Tennis and Education center in Philadelphia May 11.
The first time the Lower Merion duo played together as a doubles team was in the first round of the Central League doubles tournament. During the regular season, Miller starred at first singles, losing only two matches; while Minerva, who won the Central League singles title as a freshman, gave the Aces a standout performer at second singles.
“Our play styles fit well together, so the fact that we hadn’t played together for a long time wasn’t a problem,” said Miller. “Throughout the tournament we would face stretches of points or games where our opponents would hit some great shots, or we would make errors, but our communication helped us to find ways to get back to maintaining control of the points and playing to our strengths.”
One challenge came in the district quarterfinals, where Miller and Minerva, seeded first in the District 1 bracket, faced No. 8 seed Andrew Duan and Chris Choo of Upper Dublin. After the Aces’ duo took a 5-2 lead in the first set, the Upper Dublin pair tied it up at 5-5.
“Justin and I were able to slow down their momentum over the next two games to win the set,” noted Miller, and the Lower Merion then polished off the Upper Dublin pair 6-1 in the second set.
Minerva added, “Our matches followed a pattern of tough first set competition, followed by a dominating second set, especially in the semifinal and final rounds of the tournament, we found the weaknesses in the opposing teams and communicated that with each other and our coach De-Sean [Fennell].”
In the semifinal, Miller and Minvera defeated the No. 4 seed, Downingtown East’s Navid Eghbali and Abhinav Pillai, 6-4, 6-1.
“I think the match where we best maintained our focus and discipline was in the semifinal,” said Miller.
Minerva begged to differ, saying, “Our best match was probably the finals – we were playing really well together as a team.”
For Fennell, the most impressive aspect of the pair’s district championship was their self-confidence, as a duo and as individuals.
“I believe that confidence has been with them since the start of the season and that’s something other teams can’t seem to take away from them,” said Fennell. “Each match they’ve played together, they have nothing but confidence in themselves and in each other to execute, whether that be at the baseline, serving or finishing at the net.”
The Lower Merion head coach had noted how well the pair communicated with each other at the Central League doubles championship.
“Usually during the Central League tournament I would go out to the court every other changeover to point something out to our players, but between their semifinal match and final, I went out to speak to them only once,” said Fennell. “Anything that I saw out there, either one of them already knew how to approach it, and how to use that to their advantage.”
Next up for the duo of Miller and Minerva is the PIAA 3A state doubles championship, scheduled for May 24-25 at Hershey Racquet Club.