Springfield >> The PIAA District 1 3A boys tennis singles tournament at the Springfield YMCA Friday was a happy experience for Unionville junior Matt Miller and Conestoga freshman Ethan Sun.
Both players advanced to Saturday’s semifinal round, and in doing so, each clinched a berth in the upcoming PIAA 3A state singles tournament.
Miller, who last week captured his second consecutive Ches-Mont American Division singles title, won his two district matches Friday in straight sets. After an opening bye in the first round, he defeated Pennsbury’s Frankie DeLuca, 6-1, 6-0, in the second round; then beat Central Bucks East’s Sal Ponamgl, 6-4, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.
“I’m happy to make States this year, because last year at Districts I got knocked out in the round of 16,” said Miller. “I felt good today, my forehand was working good and in my serves I was hitting a lot of serve plus ones (well), which is nice. In the quarterfinal, the first set was back-and-forth, and I just tried to stay consistent and mentally focused the whole time, and tried to outlast him on the big points.”
Miller, the third seed in the tournament, will face Sun, the No. 2 seed, in the semifinals Saturday, which will begin at Springfield YMCA Saturday at 10:30 a.m. The other semifinal pits Lower Merion senior Brian Yi, the No. 1 seed and Central League singles champion, against LM teammate Nathan Dolgushev (the fourth seed). On Friday, Yi won his two matches by scores of 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-0.
Sun, who finished second in the Central League singles tournament last week, won his two Friday matches decisively. After a bye in the first round, he defeated Conestoga teammate Rohan Rao, 6-0, 6-3; then beat Central Bucks East’s Alan Zhang, 6-0, ret. in the quarterfinals.
“My serve was really good today, and my forehand was really good,” said Sun. “I had to beat a teammate in the (second) round, which is kind of sad, but it was a good match, and the experience here at Districts is really fun. Getting a spot in States is really cool; it’s probably going to be really fun, there’s a lot of good people playing there as well.”
West Chester East junior Ben Gao, the No. 5 seed in the District 1 3A singles tournament, won his first two matches Friday before losing to Dolgushev in the quarterfinals.
Gao, along with the other three players who lost in the quarterfinals Friday, will enter the playback round Saturday. Whoever captures fifth place Saturday will earn the fifth and final berth in the PIAA 3A state singles tournament. In the first round of playbacks Saturday, Gao will face Radnor senior Antonio Fidelbus, and the winner of that contest will advance to the fifth-place match.
Gao, who won the Ches-Mont National Division singles tournament last week, beat Spring-Ford’s Henry Damiani in the first round Friday. Despite rolling his left ankle in the first round match, Gao then defeated North Penn’s Thenuk Perera in a gritty second round performance, 6-2, 3-6, 10-2. In the quarterfinals, Dolgushev prevailed, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.
In the District 1 2A singles tournament at Springfield YMCA Friday, only the first-place finisher advances to the PIAA 2A state tourney, and Bishop Shanahan sophomore Danny Gallagher nearly made it happen, advancing to the district championship final before losing a closely-contested match to top seed Max Spodik of Lower Moreland, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-5. In the semifinals, Gallagher defeated Delco Christian junior Matt Levis, 6-1, 6-4.
“It was a great experience, and two great matches today,” said Gallagher, who made it to the district semifinals last year. “I had fun, they were great players.”
Other Chester County entrants in the District 1 3A tournament were West Chester Rustin’s Jack Benedetto, Downingtown East sophomore Soumil Patel, Unionville junior Andy Ye, West Chester Henderson freshman Zach Evans and Unionville junior Andrew Ou.
Patel, Evans and Rao each won one match at Districts Friday before losing in the next round. Patel won his first round match against Quakertown senior Max Arkins, 4-6, 6-0, 12-10; Evans defeated Council Rock North sophomore Matt Brusca, 6-1, 3-6, 10-3; and Rao beat Garnet Valley senior Ashrith Settivari, 6-0, 6-0.
