In fact, the Peters Township seniors finished 1-2 in the section and competed in the WPIAL singles tournament. Subosits was a district semifinalists; Nixon a quarterfinalists.

Together, however, they would terrorize most of the field in the WPIAL doubles tournament.

After cruising to the Section 5 title, the pair copped runner-up honors in the district, succumbing only to Shady Side Academy's Chris Mengel and Josh Ferraccio in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

By late May, however, the PT pair plan on doing a little bit better against state competition. Plus, the twosome promise to be better prepared to face Mengel and Ferraccio should a rematch occur during the PIAA tournament set for May 23-24 in Hershey.

"Hopefully, we get a second chance at them," they said. "We expected them to be a tough match because we've faced them in the past. Maybe at states, we'll do better."

Between now and then, Subosits and Nixon will focus on service. That aspect of their game gave them problems against Mengel and Ferraccio and paved the way for that tandem's triumph.

"Return of serve," said Nixon and Subosits. "That definitely was our problem. We could not break them once."

PT broke into the championship match upon winning a stiff battle against rival Upper St. Clair. In the semifinals, Nixon and Subosits slipped past Shivom Sinha and Nick Navarre, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

In the quarterfinals, Nixon and Subosits also outlasted Matt Berus and Bryan Watt from Pine-Richland, 10-8, after coasting to a 10-1 win over Matt Hudak and John Colley of Penn-Trafford in the opening round of action.

"We are very happy with how we played," said Nixon and Subosits. "Our goal was to go to states and we did that."

Nixon and Subosits will go it alone as no other local doubles team gained a berth to the PIAA championships.

Sinha and Navarre lost their consolation match, 6-2, 7-5, against Matt Smith and Matt Kosovec. That NA duo had eliminated PT's other pair (Chris Nixon and Jesse Scheirer), 10-4, in the opening round of action. Smith and Kosovec also dispatched Mt. Lebanon's tandem of Stevie D'Angelo and Vinny Palmieri, 10-4, in the quarterfinals.

In Class AA doubles action, Jimmy Taylor and Bobby Svidron from Keystone Oaks lost to Ben Schenck and Cory Fox of Southmoreland, 10-3, in the first round.