Central Bucks West’s Myron claims SOL Colonial singles title

FRANCONIA >> It was a three-peat for Central Bucks West’s Alexander Myron and 1-2 finish for the Bucks Thursday at the Suburban One League Colonial Division boys tennis single championships.

Myron, the 12-player field’s top seed and West teammate Andrei Bogdan advanced to the final at Souderton with senior Myron earning his third straight SOL title with 7-5, 6-3 victory.

“I’d say I brought my best game today,” Myron said. “Coming out here, playing with all these great guys had to put on my best show and that’s what I did.”

The only thing that prevented Myron from four consecutive league golds was the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the 2020 spring season. He won SOL Continental Conference singles as a freshman in 2019 and captured the Colonial crown the past two years.

“It feels really good,” said Myron, who previously played under the surname Kuznetsov. “At the end of the day (CB West coach) Mr. (Todd) Errett said it might not mean that much but once you step back and really think about it threepeat don’t really come that often in high school and I’m just really glad that I can do what I do.

 “Come out here, play some great tennis and even more on to districts, maybe even states.”

Myron, Bogdan and third place Connor McParland of Central Bucks East advance to the District 1-3A singles championships April 29-30 at Springfield YMCA. McParland earned the division’s final district spot by rallying from a set down to beat East teammate Cyrus Patel 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the bronze-medal match.

Top five district finishers qualify for the PIAA singles tournament May 27-28 at Hershey Racquet Club in Hershey.

“I don’t know – we’ll see,” said Bogdan of districts. “I’m just happy to be at this week, it’s an honor and senior year, finishing it off strong most importantly.”

Bogdan lost to Myron in last season’s Colonial final but did not reach district play as only 16 made the Class 3A tournament in 2021.

“Well, I wasn’t too disappointed last year, I was just happy to make the final,” Bogdan said. “I had a really tough match in the semis so making the final was just an honor. And just happy I had a chance this year.”

Myron reached the second round at districts in 2019 and last year dropped his opener to Council Rock South’s Mikkel Ziner, who went on to finish second at districts and reach the state semifinals.

“At districts I feel like I definitely got to learn how to stay calm, just play fluid,” Myron said. “That’s like the best thing for me to work on right now is how to play fluid. My strokes, I feel like are very nice, very powerful and they can take control of the point, right, and so I feel like that’s just what I got to work on – staying fluid, not getting in my own head. I feel like I do that, then I’ll play my best tennis.”

After a first-round bye, Myron began Thursday by defeating Souderton’s Jared Archer 8-2 in the quarterfinals then bested Patel 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals.

“Got my groundstrokes going, really heated up with my backhand and it eventually led up to the final,” Myron said.

Bogdan started with an 8-1 victory over North Penn’s Thenuk Perera in the first round then topped No. 3 seed Cameron Mumford of Central Bucks South 8-3 to reach the semifinals.

“My groundstrokes are working very well, my backhand improved a lot,” Bogdan said. “Serve’s working a lot better, I’m a lot more confident just mentally. And in terms of what I work on, you always got to recognize your faults but I’d say honestly I got to work on my physique a little more so I can stay in those longer matches and try to stay more loose when I swing but those come in time.”

Bogdan returned to the final with a 6-1, 6-0 win over second-seeded McPartland.

“Feeling really good,” Bogdan said. “First match was quite good, so was the second and the third. And by the time of the finals we were all just tired, figured we’d enjoy our time but otherwise physically it was perfect I’d say.”

Patel advanced to the semis with an 8-1 win over Pennridge’s Lancer Parker in the first round then in the quarterfinals knocking off No. 4 seed Hans Perera of North Penn 8-5. McPartland had a bye to the quarters where he beat Souderton’s Will Weiss 8-1.