EAST MARLBOROUGH >> Unionville junior tri-captains Matt Mller, Andrew Ou and Andy Ye swept the singles matches to lead the Longhorns to a 3-1 win against No. 6 seed Radnor in the PIAA District 1 3A boys’ tennis team quarterfinals Thursday.
With the win, the third-seeded Longhorns clinch a berth in the upcoming PIAA 3A team tournament, and advance to the district semifinals Monday, when they will face No. 2 seed Lower Merion. Radnor drops back into the playback rounds, where four teams will battle for the fifth and final berth in the PIAA 3A state tourney.
After Ou and Ye won second and third singles, respectively, in straight sets, and Radnor won second doubles, the Longhorns held a 2-1 lead. At that point, the first doubles match was entering the third set, while Miller was battling Radnor senior Antonio Fidelibus in a closely-contested second set.
Miller, the Ches-Mont American singles tournament champion, wound up prevailing in the second set tiebreak to win 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and clinch the match for Unionville.
“It was getting hot and windy, and the key was keeping a level head, staying consistent, keeping the ball to his backhand,” said Miller.
Unionville boys’ tennis head coach Jimmy O’Rourke said, “We knew (Fidelibus), he’s a great, great player especially on his forehand side. Their (prior) matches have gone back-and-forth, and it looked like it was going back and forth in the second set today.
“It was a baseline match, and it might have looked like we were trying to wait for Antonio to lose points, but he just wasn’t doing that.”
Miller, who played first singles for the Longhorns last spring, added, “I’m really excited to be going back to (team) states for a third time. The atmosphere there (at Hershey) is super-fun, and we get closer as a team. It’s my favorite team of year.”
Last year, the Longhorns advanced to the PIAA 3A state quarterfinals, with Miller and Ou at the top two singles spots and Ye at second doubles.
At second singles Thursday, Ou defeated senior Arav Menon, 6-1, 6-0.
“I was focused on getting our team back to states again this year, like we were last year; I love to go back to Hershey,” Ou said. “I played aggressively today and my contact point was where I wanted it to be. I stepped into the ball and hit a lot of winners today.”
O’Rourke said, “Andrew’s been working on tennis efficiency – trying to win without prolonging it because the longer you play, the more you cramp up, the more you get dehydrated.”
At third singles, Ye defeated senior Graham Bernabeo, 6-4, 6-3.
“(Bernabeo) and I used to train together,” said Ye. “It was tough today, and he started out strong in the first set and hit some incredible shots. I kept grinding, trying to make one more shot than he did. It was hot, the heat definitely has an effect on your mental game and I just tried to keep my head down and keep grinding.”
O’Rourke said, “I’ve said all season long that having Andy Ye at third singles is like finding an extra Christmas present on December 28. You don’t expect it, but to have somebody at third singles who takes care of business all the time, it seems, is like getting that extra present.”
Radnor (16-2 overall) features some strong doubles teams, and during the regular season beat No. 2 seed Lower Merion, 4-3, by sweeping the four doubles matches (for district seeding the final score was LM 3, Radnor 2).
At second doubles, the Raptors’ Benji Lo and Jackson Carey won, 6-2, 6-2; and at first doubles, the Radnor duo of Max Spillerman and William Shi split two sets with Unionville’s Luke Tierney and Tucker Carroll, 6-2, 6-7 (7-9) before the third set was suspended due to Miller’s clinching victory at first singles.
Radnor boys tennis head coach Beth Bernabeo said, “We’ve really been working on our tactical and aggressive mindset; when to use certain shots to be aggressive and when to use tactics to position ourselves to be aggressive, and our boys did a fantastic job of that today, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Fidelibus and Graham Bernabeo will be representing Radnor in the upcoming District 1 3A doubles tournament, as they finished fifth in the Central League doubles tourney.
“Antonio is our fiercest competitor; it takes a lot for him not to be able to solve someone else’s puzzle,” said Beth Bernabeo. “He’s got a lot of tools, he’s got a lot of versatility and variety in his game.”
O’Rourke is impressed with Radnor’s doubles strength.
“Radnor’s doubles teams are amazing; they are very reminiscent of where we were two years ago, where our singles players were good, but our doubles players were our strength – we almost started most matches 2-0, we just knew we were winning doubles,” said O’Rourke.
The Unionville coach added, “Our doubles are good, they’re young, but they don’t always play like they’re young. If they can just kind of not worry that the people on the other side of the court are two or three years older than them, then (we) pedal down and see what happens. I’m very excited for the next few weeks.”
NOTES: Three Chester County teams will be playing in the District 1 3A team semifinals Monday – Unionville, top seed Conestoga and No. 5 seed Downingtown East. The Cougars defeated fourth seed Central Bucks East, 3-2, in the quarterfinals Thursday, and will face Conestoga in the semifinals. The Pioneers defeated No. 9 seed Penncrest, 5-0, in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Unionville 3, Radnor 1
Singles: 1. Matt Miller (UN) def. Antonio Fidelibus (RAD), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); 2. Andrew Ou (UN) def. Arav Menon (RAD), 6-1, 6-0; 3. Andy Ye (UN) def. Graham Bernabeo (RAD), 6-4, 6-3.
Doubles: 1. Luke Tierney/Tucker Carroll (UN) vs. Max Spillerman/William Shi (RAD) 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), suspended; 2. Benji Lo/Jackson Carey (RAD) def. Brendon Yu/Elijah Yoon (UN), 6-2, 6-2.
