Spring-Ford junior Moore wins PAC singles championship over OJR’s Sawicki

GRATERFORD >> There were times Saturday where Cam Moore seemed to be saying to his opponents, ‘I can do this all day.’

Best of all for the Spring-Ford junior was having the skills to not have to.

Moore made the most of his Pioneer Athletic Conference singles tournament debut by blending a patient approach with clutch late-set play to win the championship, prevailing 6-3, 6-4 over Owen J. Roberts’ Jason Sawicki in the final held at Perkiomen Valley.

After missing out on the opportunity to play in the PAC tournament last year due to the cancelled season – he was projected as Spring-Ford’s No. 2 singles player in 2020 – Moore wanted to make up for what was missed.

“I’m feeling great,” he said. “It really sucked last year to miss the season because of COVID, so it feels great to win the PAC my first year as a singles player.

“I really want to do well this season especially because we missed last season.”

OJR’s Sawicki will make his second trip to the District 1 tournament after placing fourth in the PAC as a sophomore in 2019. It wasn’t the final outcome he hoped for after losing for the second time in a week to Moore – the Spring-Ford No. 1 won 6-4, 6-1 in their April 6 match – but an improved finish is never a bad thing.

“I’m a little upset with myself because I thought I could’ve gotten it done to be honest,” Sawicki said. “I lost to him a few days ago in the season and I was trying to redeem myself but I couldn’t get it done. But I’m proud of the way I played overall.”

The left-handed Moore grinded out a straight-set win over Perkiomen Valley’s Aaron Fry in the semifinals 6-4, 7-6 (6), winning the second set in come-from-ahead fashion after Fry rallied from 5-1 down.

Sawicki’s semifinal was much more straight forward, a 6-0, 6-2 takedown of Methacton senior Jeff Cooper.

The long layoff between matches didn’t do Sawicki any favors at the start of the final, a lack of sharpness in his play aiding Moore’s 6-3 opener.

The Wildcats senior came out the stronger player in the second set by getting to net and not allowing Moore to dictate the tempo of points to build a 3-0 lead.

“All throughout high school I’ve been a second-set player, almost like I need a warmup set,” Sawicki said. “Going down in the first like I did definitely hurt me, but I knew I needed to rebound in the second.”

But ultimately Moore solved the situation and found his own shot-making on top of baseline consistency to combat Sawicki’s all-court aggressiveness to prevail in two sets.

With so few matches played, match sharpness is not easy to come by this early in the year. But Moore showed he has it with his play late in sets when the points mattered most.

“I was preparing myself mentally, staying engaged and focused throughout the matches and before the match, trying to analyze my opponent’s weakness and find what works and doesn’t work against various opponents,” Moore said of his preparation.

Out-of-season training is crucial in any sport but it’s especially important in a tennis season where the league singles tournament was held at the end of the first week of the season.

“I play in the offseason at Frog Hollow and I play multiple times a week so that really allowed me to be ready for the season,” Moore said. “I really worked on my serve, which I think has gotten a lot better over the past two years. I’m also able to hit my groundstrokes with more pace and spin, hit harder balls that allowed me to take more points throughout the tournament.”

Sawicki’s offseason didn’t include indoor play so he had to make the most of limited opportunities.

“I tried to get out by myself serving as much as possible because courts are always open,” he said. “That’s one thing you could always do. I worked on my backhand, went out with my brother to try to keep pace and work on myself overall.”

It felt like a strange way to end the season’s first week – a product of the PAC’s two-week delay to the season coupled with the PIAA maintaining its original schedule for the district and state tournaments – but you won’t find the district qualifiers complaining.

“I was surprised it was this way when I saw the schedule but in the end I’m happy with it,” Sawicki said. “You have to make the most of it.”

NOTES >> Spring-Ford has fielded the PAC singles champ in six of the past seven seasons. Moore follows Patrick Pascual (2014-16) and Malchu Pascual (2018-19). OJR’s Holden Smith broke the trend in 2017 … Perk Valley’s Fry defeated Methacton’s Cooper 8-5 in the third-place match. Cooper, a state qualifier in golf who is a first-year tennis player, downed No. 1 seed Josh Starczewski of Phoenixville in the second round on Friday. … The District 1 tournament will begin next Friday, April 16, at Healthplex.