Conestoga defeats Unionville to advance to District 1 3A team final

East Marlborough >> In a nip-and-tuck District 1 3A boys tennis team semifinal, No. 3 seed Conestoga defeated host No. 2 seed Unionville, 3-2, Thursday afternoon. With the victory, the Pioneers (16-1), whose only loss this season is to Lower Merion, will face the top seeded Aces (18-0) for the district team championship Monday.
Conestoga got straight set wins from Justin Xu at first singles and Aaron Sun at third singles to build an early 2-0 lead, but at that point, Unionville was leading in the third set in all of the three remaining matches.
Unionville juniors Ryan Megill and Nate Butler gave the spirited home crowd some hope with an emotional 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win at second doubles; then the Conestoga pair of senior Manas Dhawan and sophomore Basil Lubiniecki won a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) decision at first doubles to nail down the Pioneers’ district semifinal victory.
“Manas and Basil have great chemistry, volley well, and are phenomenal in net play,” said Conestoga coach Brittany Aimone. “I’m so proud of our team.”
Unionville coach Jimmy O’Rourke said, “This was about a close a match as you could get between two really good teams.”
Unionville (18-3) will face Downingtown East in the third-place match in the District 1 3A team tourney. Unionville, Conestoga and Downingtown East all will be heading to the PIAA 3A team tournament later this month, by virtue of finishing in the top four of the District 1 3A tourney.
In Thursday’s Unionville-Conestoga contest, the first match to be decided was at first singles, where Xu, the fifth-place finisher at the recent District 1 3A singles tournament, defeated Unionville freshman Andrew Ou, the Ches-Mont American Division singles champion, 6-1, 6-2. Last month, Xu finished third in the Central League singles tournament.
“Justin has a really big serve and moves the ball really well,” noted Aimone.
“My serve is one of my main weapons,” said Xu. “And I was able to adjust to and handle [Ou’s] serve.”
Conestoga took a 2-0 lead when Sun won at third singles, 6-4, 6-4. Sun has only one loss at third singles this season (to Lower Merion).
“Aaron keeps his ball deep, is consistent and really focused,” said Aimone.
“Early in the match I was playing too aggressively,” said Sun. “Later I started to stay in rallies longer – I was more patient.”
Unionville then won at second doubles, thanks to Megill and Butler, to narrow Conestoga’s lead to 2-1.
“Ryan and Nate are all about energy,” said O’Rourke. “They thrive in the third set, particularly if they win the second set to get momentum.”
Dhawan and Lubiniecki then won at first doubles to clinch the match. At the time their match was finished, Unionville senior captain Andrew Poprik was winning his second singles match in the third set, 4-1.
“Andrew is the heart and soul of our team,” said O’Rourke of Poprik, who finished second to Ou in the recent Ches-Mont American Division singles tournament.
Conestoga will now face Lower Merion in the District 1 3A team championship finals. Earlier this season, the Pioneers lost to the Aces, 5-2, and Aimone is confident that Conestoga can do better this time around.
“I think we were off our game that day,” said Aimone. “I think we had an off day.”

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