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TUESDAY'S D2 TENNIS: Two Abington Heights and two Scranton Prep players into semifinals

joby fawcett, the times-tribune, scranton, pa.
·4 min read

Two players from Abington Heights and two players from Scranton Prep are in their respective semifinals at the District 2 Singles Championship Tournament.

Abington Heights junior Praneel Mallaiah, who is undefeated and seeded at No. 1, and freshman William Arp advanced to the Class 3A semifinals. The two Comets led the team to the Class 3A championship last week.

Wilkes-Barre Area senior Michael Hamel is in the semifinals and seeks his fourth straight trip to the final. Delaware Valley's Alex Mullen is the fifth seed and has reached the semifinals.

In Class 2A, Scranton Prep's Ethan Borick, the No. 1 seed, and No. 3 Akhilesh Velaga, the 2022 champion, reached the semifinals.

No. 2 Luca Argenio of Wyoming Area and Wyoming Seminary's Bill Hall are in the semifinals.

The semifinals start at 1 p.m. at Kirby Park, with the final matches to follow.

Mallaiah, the 2022 singles champion, is undefeated this season and won his two matches without dropping a game. He defeated Hazleton Area's Mateo Feola and Crestwood's Tommy Biscotti, 6-0, 6-0.

He plays Mullen, who won two matches in straight sets, which included an upset of No. 4 Connor Peters of Valley View, 7-5, 6-4.

Arp, who is in his first singles tournament, defeated Crestwood's Sean Rossi, 6-1, 6-0, and Delaware Valley's Alex Corcoran, 6-1, 6-0.

Hamel hopes to strike gold after finishing as runner-up in each of his first three seasons. He also won his two matches without losing a game and played Arp in the semifinals.

Borick and Velaga led Scranton Prep to the Class 2A team title last week.

Borick won a pair of matches in straight sets to set up a rematch with Hall in the semifinals.

Last season, Hall defeated Borick in the quarterfinals, but in this year's team tournament, Borick led 6-2, 5-3 in their matchup at No. 1 singles before it got halted.

Velaga faces Argenio in a battle between former teammates. Both were at Scranton Prep in their freshman seasons.

DISTRICT 2 TENNIS SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS

CLASS 3A

First round

Mateo Feola (Hazleton Area) over Robert Ashford (Wilkes-Barre Area), 7-5, 7-5; Tom Bergman (Scranton) over Alex Sanchez (West Scranton), 6-2, 7-5; Peyton Sprague (Wyoming Valley West) over Justin Sieko (Berwick), 6-2, 6-2; Sean Rossi (Crestwood) over Zhi Lin (Pittston Area), 6-0, 6-0; Alex Corcoran (Delaware Valley) over Gadgidas Reisinger (Wyoming Valley West), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Faneel Bhalja (Scranton) over Hernon Arias (Hazleton Area), 6-2, 6-2.

Second round

1-Praneel Mallaiah (Abington Heights) over Feola, 6-0, 6-0; Tommy Biscotti (Crestwood) over Tanner Osborn (Pittston Area), 6-0, 6-0; 5-Alex Mullen (Delaware Valley) over Bergman, 6-1, 6-4; 4-Connor Peters (Valley View) over Sprague, 6-2, 6-3; 3-William Arp (Abington Heights) over Rossi, 6-1, 6-0; Corcoran over 6-Drew Sphabmixay (West Scranton), 6-0, 6-1; Jack Reilly (Valley View) over Liam Welch (Berwick), 6-1, 6-1; 2-Michael Hamel (Wilkes-Barre Area) over Bhalja, 6-0, 6-0.

Quarterfinals

1-Mallaiah over Biscotti, 6-0, 6-0; 5-Mullen over 4-Peters, 7-5, 6-4; 3-Arp over Corcoran, 6-1, 6-0; 2-Hamel over Reilly, 6-0, 6-0.

Wednesday's semifinals

at Kirby Park, 1 p.m.

1-Mallaiah vs. 5-Mullen; 3-Arp vs. 2-Hamel

CLASS 2A

First round

Mateo Runde (Holy Redeemer) over Michael Reiprich (Honesdale), 6-0, 6-3; Ray Zhang (Holy Cross) over Alex Morano (Mid Valley), 6-0, 7-5; 8-Jon Florencio (Dallas) over Max Bleiler (MMI), 6-3, 6-0; Dom DeSando (Dunmore) over Kyle Mizeko (North Pocono), 6-4, 6-3; Aidan Edwards (Tunkhannock) over Christian Abromovage (Wyoming Area), 6-0, 6-2; Thomas Bowen (Dunmore) over Aidan Montross (Tunkhannock), 6-0, 6-1; Erald Zyberaj (Mid Valley) over Leo Martinez-Valerio (Honesdale), 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-2; Xavier Bleiler (MMI) over Ansareli Atabayev (Wyoming Seminary), 1-6, 6-4, 6-4; Nate Linnen (Dallas) over Matthew Hitchcock (North Pocono), 6-0 6-1.

Second round

1-Ethan Borick (Scranton Prep) over Runde, 6-1, 6-1; 8-Florencio (Dallas) over Zhang, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1; DeSando (Dunmore) over 5-Anthony Ghigiarelli (Riverside) by default; 4-Bill Hall (Wyoming Seminary) over Edwards, 6-0, 6-0; 3-Akhilesh Velaga (Scranton Prep) over Bowen, 6-0, 6-2; 6-Alex Harrison (Holy Cross) over Zyberaj, 6-1, 6-0; 7-Frank Klimovitz (Holy Redeemer) over X. Bleiler, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1; 2-Luca Argenio (Wyoming Area) over Linnen, 6-0, 6-0.

Quarterfinals

1-Borick over 8-Florencio, 6-0, 6-2; 4-Hall over DeSando, 6-0, 6-0; 3-Velaga over 6-Harrison, 6-0, 6-0; 2-Argenio over 7-Klimovitz, 6-3, 6-3.

Wednesday's semifinals

1-Borick vs. 4-Hall; 3-Velaga vs. 2-Argenio