PIAA TENNIS: Lackawanna League players start play in state tournament
Players from District 2 take to the courts at the Hershey Racquet Club this weekend at the PIAA Tennis Championships.
Abington Heights’ Praneel Mallaiah battles Cedar Crest’s Viseth Meng in the first round of the Class 3A singles tournament, which starts at 8 a.m.
Mallaiah led Abington Heights to the Lackawanna League and District 2 Class 3A championships. The junior played in the state tournament as a freshman and lost to North Allegheney’s Trey Davidson, 6-1, 6-0, in the first round.
This season, Mallaiah finished 11-0 in the Lackawanna League and has an 18-1 overall record. His only loss came in the PIAA team tournament against Unionville’s Matt Miller. In three seasons, he has a record of 51-4 as the No. 1 singles player for the Comets.
Scranton Prep senior Ethan Borick opens the Class 2A singles tournament against Samir Roberts-Mouzon, a sophomore from Carver Engineering and Science who won the District 12 championship, at noon.
This season, Borick took over as the No. 1 singles player for the Cavaliers and led the team to the Class 2A championship. He won the District 2 singles tournament and enters the state event with a record of 15-1 this season, with his only loss coming against Mallaiah. He is 59-8 in his career.
Roberts-Mouzon, a sophomore, is the No. 15 player in the state for his class, according to tennisrecruiting.com.
In doubles play, Wyoming Seminary’s team of Bill Hall and Ansalari Atabayev, the District 2 Class 2A champion, plays Chris Ji and Levi Santa of Masterman at 2 p.m.
Hall played No. 1 singles, and Atabayev played No. 2 for Wyoming Seminary this season. Ji and Santa played at No. 1 doubles for Masterman, which reached the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals in the team tournament.
Abington Heights’ doubles team of William Arp and Domenic Peters plays Dallastown’s Jacob Horn and Ian Opitz at 10 a.m. in the Class 3A tournament.
Arp and Peters played singles all season for the Comets.
Horn played at No. 2 singles and Opitz played at No. 1 doubles for Dallastown, which lost to Central Bucks West in the first round of the PIAA team tournament.
