Roundup (April 11): Three of four top seeds advance to semifinals at PAC Boys Tennis Singles Championships

Boys’ Tennis

Three of the top four seeds reached the semifinals of the Pioneer Athletic Conference Singles Championships on Thursday at Perkiomen Valley.

Top two seeds Talan Nguyen of Owen J. Roberts and Spring-Ford’s Henry Damiani won their two matches to make the final four, as did Methacton’s fourth-seeded Akash Suresh.

Pope John Paul II’s Aiden McCarel prevented No. 3 seed Josiah Kotright of Upper Merion a spot in the semifinals when the Golden Panther No. 1 rallied to an 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 quarterfinal victory.

The semifinals and finals of the tournament will be played Monday, April 15 starting at 9 a.m. at Perkiomen Valley.

Nguyen and Damiani were straight-set winners in the quarters, Nguyen a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Methacton’s Karun Jayaram while Dimiani edged Jack Sawicki of OJR, 7-6 (1), 6-3. Suresh bested Boyertown’s Brayden Burkhardt, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-4, to earn his spot.

PAC Singles Championships
At Perkiomen Valley
First round
Talan Nguyen (OJR) bye; Tyson Gotfried (PJP) def. Aidan Brunner (Bt) 10-8; Stephen Saladino Tang (SF) def. Evyn Brogley (Pg) 10-0; Karun Jayaram (Mt) def. Austin Sundstrom (Pt) 10-0; Akash Suresh (Mt) bye; Dom Doan (UM) def. Jonathan Lopez (Nt) 10-0; Owen Lake (OJR) def. Josh Tagert (PV) 10-2; Brayden Burkhardt (Bt) bye.
Josiah Kotright (UM) bye; Owen Graver (Px) def. Steve Schmittinger (UP) 10-3; Hunter Ashton (PV) def. Dominic DiPietro (Pt) 10-4; Aiden McCarel (PJP) bye; Jack Sawicki (OJR) def. Dillon Doan (UM) 110-2; Henry Queeney (UP) def. Gael Palestino (Nt) 10-4; Jared Vitz (Px) def. Henry Grant (Pg) 6-4 ret.; Henry Damiani (SF) bye.
Second Round
Nguyen (OJR) def. Gotfried (PJP) 10-2; Jayaram (Mt) def. Saladino Tang (SF) 10-1; Suresh (Mt) def. BDoan (UM) 10-1; Burkhardt (Bt) def. Lake (OJR) 10-4; Kotright (UM) def. Graver (Px) 10-4; McCarel (PJP) def. Ashton (PV) 10-1; Sawicki (OJR) def. Queeney (UP) 10-4; Damiani (SF) def. Vitz (Px) 10-0.
Quarterfinals
Nguyen (OJR) def. Jayaram (Mt) 6-2, 6-3; Suresh (Mt) def. Burkhardt (Bt) 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-4; McCarel (PJP) def. Kotright (UM) 0-6, 6-4, 6-3; Damiani (SF) def. Sawicki (OJR) 7-6 (1), 6-3.

Boys’ Lacrosse

Perkiomen Valley 9, Owen J. Roberts 8

Perk Valley rallied from a slow start to fend off Owen J. Roberts in a meeting of PAC leaders. Trailing 4-0 after a quarter, the Vikings tied the game 5-5 with 6:04 remaining on a Luke Hanlon score, then built a 9-6 lead early in the fourth on goals from Bryce Coletta (4G).

OJR managed to get within one down the stretch but strong goalie play from Christian Jones and a crucial turnover forced by Tyler Henn allowed PV to prevail.

Patrick Moloney (1G, 2A) and Connor Macklin (2G) aided the scoring for the Vikings (3-0 PAC, 4-4 overall).

Boyertown 18, Phoenixville 6

Mason Barndt, Brayden Kuhar and Weston Loshnowsky factored on seven goals apiece and Boyertown cruised to a PAC win over Phoenixville Thursday.

Barndt and Kuhar had five goals and two assists each and Loshnowsky contributed four goals and three assists. Gio Daddario and Tyler Diffenderfer scored two each for the Bears, which led 13-3 at halftime.

Upper Merion 10, Pope John Paul II 7

Upper Merion outscored PJP 4-0 in the fourth quarter and came away with a PAC victory Thursday.

Collin McCormick (4G), Justin Besz (2G, 2A), Kieran Lamey (1G, 2A) and Noah Canale (1G, 1A) were leading scorers for the Vikings.

Spring-Ford 17, Pottsgrove 4

The Rams built a 16-1 halftime lead en route to a PAC victory over the Falcons. Preston Page (4G, 1A), Brady Welsh (3G, 2A), Ian Schweizer (2G, 4A) and Ian Evans (3G) were top scorers for Spring-Ford.

Bryce Caffrey scored three for Pottsgrove.

Girls’ Lacrosse

Pope John Paul II 15, Upper Perkiomen 5

Jill Cobaugh was the scoring star for PJP with seven goals and an assist and Ava Zepp hit for four goals and an assist to lead the Golden Panthers to a PAC Frontier win Thursday.

Gracen Hockey had a goal and an assist for PJP, which also got eight save goalkeeping from McKayla Ellison.

Abby Davidheiser and Maggie Milkowich had two goals each for UP.

Pennridge 15, Boyertown 12

Alina Friz contributed on nine goals (6 goals, 3 assists) but it wasn’t enough for Boyertown in a non-league meeting with Pennridge.
Hannah Adamski had three goals, an assist, and eight draw controls for Boyertown. Kamryn Pier and Peyton Shellaway added a goal and assist.

Baseball

Pope John Paul II 13, Pottstown 0

Leading 8-0 after two innings, 14-hit PJP tacked on five runs in the fifth inning to finish a PAC Frontier victory in six innings.
Chase Frantz and Luke Terlesky had three RBI each while Frantz, Nik DeForge, AJ Diaddezio and Jimmy Kenning had two hits each.

Blake High (4 IP, 1 H, 6 K, 2 BB) and M Rullo (2 IP, 0 H, 3 BB, 1 K) combined to allow just one hit.

Fleetwood 3, Daniel Boone 0

Thursday at Daniel Boone, Fleetwood was able to score single runs in the second, sixth, and seventh innings to secure the 3-0 league victory over the Blazers. Sam Reimert went the distance, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out one in the shutout. Chase Yenser got the start for the Blazers and was equally good, allowing just 5 singles, one walk, and struck out two, but the Blazers committed four errors. Brayden Sobjak and Tyler Cox both drove in runs for Fleetwood. Nick Cizmarik collected two of the four Daniel Boone hits.

Softball

Pope John Paul II 18, Pottstown 0

Molly Houchins (3 RBI) and Hannah Satalin (triple, 4 RBI) were the offensive leaders for PJP while Abby Simmers allowed two hits in three innings in the circle and had a double and RBI at the plate.
Kelly Murphy added a double and RBI for PJP.