HS SPORTS: Scranton Prep, Abington Heights tennis teams open PIAA playoffs; District 2 postseasons set in field hockey, volleyball
Oct. 23—Scranton Prep and Abington Heights girls tennis teams begin their state postseasons with first-round matches against formidable foes.
On Tuesday, Scranton Prep, the District 2 Class 2A champion, travels to face District 11 champion Moravian Academy at Northwood Racquet Club in Easton at 12:30 p.m. Abington Heights, the District 2 Class 3A champion, will host Central Dauphin, the third-place team from District 3, at Birchwood Tennis & Fitness at noon.
Scranton Prep (18-1) brings a talented lineup of singles players that includes Alyssa Wigley and Lily Lengyel — two District 2 Class 2A semifinalists who teamed up to win the district title in doubles — and Emma Cuck. All three were undefeated in leading the Classics to the Lackawanna League championship.
Ella Cohen and Grace Devine, and Hannah LaCoe and Nicole Krakovich will play doubles for Scranton Prep.
Senior Francesca Bartolacci, sophomore Laura Li and freshman Penelope Blomfield lead Moravian Academy (14-1). Bartolacci won the District 11 singles championship and Li reached the quarterfinals. Li and Bloomfield reached the district final in doubles. Kanchan Gupta and Sunny Chen and Anika Mehta and Chloe Dahl play doubles for Moravian Academy.
Last season, Scranton Prep defeated Moravian Academy, 5-0. Wigley defeated Bartolacci, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 1 singles. Cuck beat Li, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
District 2 Class 3A singles champ Susan Arp, Sona Hanumali and Amishi Amit lead Abington Heights (16-2). Mary Booth, who teamed with Hanumali to win the District 2 Class 3A doubles title, will play with Bernie Mullin at No. 1 doubles, while Sammy Rosenstein and Nevaeh Vendrell will be at No. 2 doubles for the Lady Comets.
Katie Berra, Julia Wiest, and Ava Mansure make up the singles lineup for Central Dauphin (15-3).
Field hockey
Wyoming Area is the top-seeded team and received a bye. The Warriors are the No. 1 Class 2A team in the state in a ratings poll by Maxpreps.com. Nina Angeli has 20 goals and Lyla Rehill has 17 to lead the defending district champion and PIAA runner-up.
Second-seeded Lackawanna Trail (12-4-2) opens the District 2 Class 1A playoffs with a first-round match at home against seventh-seeded Holy Redeemer (2-16) on Monday at 4 p.m. The winner meets either sixth-seeded Hanover Area (4-12) or No. 3 Lake-Lehman (10-5), who play Monday at 6 p.m. No. 5 Wyoming Seminary (4-12-1) plays at No. 4 Nanticoke Area (9-9) in the other quarterfinal at 6 p.m.
Lena Ryon, a Central Michigan commit who scored the 200th point of her career earlier this season, leads Lackawanna Trail, which is ranked No. 3 in the state. Greta Krimmel, Lauren Fahey and Nora Evans have also had strong seasons.
In the Class 2A subregional with District 4, Crestwood (15-2-1) is the No. 1 seed. The Comets are the defending champion and ranked No. 2 in the state. They will host No. 8 Berwick (2-15) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Fifth-seeded Wallenpaupack (11-6-1) will play at No. 4 Pittston Area (11-6-1) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Jillian Tait leads the Lady Buckhorns with 17 goals and four assists. The teams tied in their regular-season meeting Oct. 9.
Abington Heights (16-1-1) is seeded second after winning the WVC Division II title. The Lady Comets will host No. 7 Shikellamy (5 — 13), a District 4 representative, on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The winner faces either sixth-seeded Dallas (8-7) at No. 3 Selinsgrove (12-6), which also represents District 4 and beat Abington Heights in the semifinals last season.
Abington Heights is led by Madison Zalewski, an Old Dominion commit who has 77 points with 34 goals and nine assists, and Peyton Pallman, a Central Michigan commit who has 18 goals and 18 assists. Marygrace Sabatini has 15 goals and 27 assists.
Defending champion Honesdale (14-2-1) is the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A tournament. Both the Lady Hornets and second-seeded Wyoming Valley West (10-7) received byes.
In one quarterfinal, fourth-seeded Delaware Valley (4-13) will host No. 5 Wilkes-Barre Area on Tuesday at 6 p.m. In the other, No. 6 Tunkhannock (4-14) is at No. 3 Hazleton Area (5-13) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Volleyball
Susquehanna (7-11) opens the District 2 Class 1A playoffs with a home match against No. 5 MMI Prep (0-20) on Monday at 6 p.m.
The winner advances to play top-seeded and nine-time defending champion Blue Ridge (17-1), which will host the semifinal round Thursday. Second-seeded Lackawanna Trail (11-5) will play No. 3 Mountain View (9-11) at 5 p.m. in the first match of the doubleheader.
Top-seeded and defending champion Delaware Valley (13-2), which has won 13 consecutive district championships, and No. 2 Williamsport (14-3), the District 4 representative, received byes in Class 4A.
There are two quarterfinals set for Monday. No. 5 Scranton (7-11) will be at No. 4 Wilkes-Barre Area (6-9) at 6 p.m. No. 6 Wyoming Valley West (4-14) is at No. 3 Hazleton Area (9-11) at 5 p.m.
The Class 2A quarterfinals start Tuesday with all matches at 6 p.m.
No. 8 Hanover Area (1-19) is at No. 1 Holy Redeemer (18-2), and fifth-seeded Elk Lake (10-10) is at defending champion and fourth-seeded Lake Lehman (13-5). No. 6 Montrose (5-9) is at No. 3 Dunmore (13-3), and seventh-seeded Mid Valley (1-13), which is in its first season as a varsity program, plays at No. 2 Western Wayne (16-4).
In Class 3A, which is a subregional with District 4, top-seeded and defending champion Berwick (15-2) hosts No. 8 Nanticoke (7-11), fourth-seeded Abington Heights (13-6) is at No. 5 Dallas (14-8), No. 6 Tunkhannock (10-9) is at No. 3 Crestwood (10-4), and No. 2 North Pocono (17-2) hosts No. 7 Shamokin (9-7), the District 4 representative, when the quarterfinals start Wednesday.
Contact the writer: jbfawcett@scrantontimes.com; 570-348-9125; @sportsTT on X
