These 6 Erie County players will represent District 10 in the PIAA boys tennis tournament
Three Cathedral Prep players will serve and volley in this weekend’s PIAA boys tennis tournament at Hershey Racquet Club.
It’s the same venue where the trio nearly achieved history for their program.
The 2024 Ramblers were only District 10’s second boys team that competed in a state team tennis final when they faced Lancaster Country Day last weekend. The Crusaders denied Prep its unprecedented result with a 3-2 victory.
Jonah Ng, Gavin Ferretti and James Casella were among the Ramblers’ starters throughout that tournament. They at least benefitted from knowing their seasons would extend another week as the district’s 2A champions for singles and doubles.
Here’s what those players, plus the district’s Class 3A representatives, can expect come Friday:
Class 2A singles
Jonah Ng, jr., Cathedral Prep: Will open with a noon match vs. another junior, Deven Pandey of Saucon Valley.
Ng is involved in the state’s small-school singles bracket a year after he chose to focus on 2A doubles play with Prep graduate Hayden Hutchinson. They bowed out in the state quarterfinals.
Ng was the district’s singles champion as a freshman. He finished fourth in state play.
If Ng reaches this weekend’s semifinals, he could face Lancaster’s Michael Georgelis. The two met in the No. 1 singles match of their teams’ state final, with Georgelis a 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 winner.
The PIAA will have a new 2A singles champ with the graduation of Lower Moreland’s Aaron Sandler, the 2023 winner.
District champs: Top seeds John Sinnott and Jonah Ng prevail in District 10's boys tennis tournament finals
Class 2A doubles
Gavin Ferretti, so., and James Casella, sr., Cathedral Prep: They’ll debut Friday at 2 p.m. against Moravian Academy senior Ford Koch and sophomore Aveer Chadha.
A year ago, Ferretti also appeared at Hershey over Memorial Day weekend. Only then, it was in singles.
Ferretti sought to repeat as the district’s best 2A singles player earlier this month but lost to Ng in an all-Prep final. Ramblers coach Pat Grab then paired Ferretti with Casella, whose primary doubles partner had been Cameron Grieshaber.
More: How District 10's boys team tennis champions fared in PIAA tournament openers
Class 3A singles
John Sinnott, jr., Erie High: He’ll officially be the Royals’ first state singles player Friday at 8 a.m. Hempfield junior Cooper Lehman, a returning semifinalist, will be his opponent.
Seniors Brian Yi of Lower Merion and David Lindsay of Central Mountain are other returnees in that round from last season’s tournament, which was won by Council Rock South graduate Mikkel Zinder.
More: Season finale: The Erie Times-News' last list of Erie County top performers for 2023-24
Class 3A doubles
Noah Hardesty, so., and Gridley Wright, so., McDowell: The second-year Trojans will be significant underdogs in their 10 a.m. opener.
Not only are Palmyra’s Aidan and Tyler Mahaffey seniors, but the tournament’s defending champs.
More: How McDowell, Cathedral Prep duos win District 10 doubles tournament titles
Contact Mike Copper atmcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: District 10 boys tennis players set to serve in PIAA tournament
