Tandems net titles
While area doubles tandems battled for WPIAL championships this week, the pairs celebrated recent section titles.
Peter Hazlett, who was a WPIAL finalist in last year’s singles competition, combined with Charlie Strohl and captured the Section 4-AAA title. The Mt. Lebanon senior and sophomore pairing dispatched Christian Meyer and Mike Russell of Upper St. Clair in the finals. Both tandems had received first-round byes in the tournament.
Hazlett and Strohl reached the section finals by dispatching Josh Somers and Ben Wolfson from Taylor Allderdice in a pro set, 10-1, as well as USC’s Dom D’Amico and Sam Schiffman in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. D’Amico and Schiffman had swept Brian Konieczka and Kyle Buettner of West Mifflin as well as Ryan Becker and Ethan Shetty of Moon in pro sets, 10-0, to reach the Final Four.
After besting Isaac Miller and Ben Stern from Allderdice, Meyer, a junior, and Russell, a senior, dispatched Lebo’s duo of Nick Reese and Christian Vietmeier, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, to reach the championship bout.
In the consolation match, Reese and Vietmeier defeated D’Amico and Schiffman, 6-3, 7-5, to earn a spot in the WPIAL doubles tournament, which were scheduled for April 28-29.
Mitch Kreider and Miguel Ascencio combined to win the Section 5-AAA doubles title. The Peters Township tandem defeated teammates Brendon Dollard and Ryan Farrell, 6-2, 6-0, in the finals played at Trinity High School.
A senior-freshman pairing, Kreider and Ascencio reached the finals with wins against Ben Wallace and Zach Laufer from Bethel Park, 10-1, as well as Chris Gladden and Mukunda Aithal of Canon-McMillan, 6-3, 6-4.
Dollard and Farrell, who like Kreider and Ascencio received a first-round bye, eliminated Ringgold’s Conner Dudas and Luke Offerman, 10-0, and Bethel Park’s Aaron Coplan and Adam Ackerman, 6-1, 6-2, to reach the finals.
In the consolation match, Gladden, who was the fourth-place finisher in the WPIAL singles tournament, and Aithal defeated Coplan and Ackerman in straight sets that were decided by tiebreakers, 7-5.
Chartiers Valley sported two teams in the tournament and each won a first-round match before being eliminated. Kyle Hicken and Calvin Boyle combined to beat West Allegheny’s Keegan Treloar and Matt Miller, 10-0, before falling to Gladden and Aithal. Kevin Rectenwald and Nick Calla defeated Casey Shaw and Hogan Altman from Trinity before tumbling, 10-4, against Coplan and Ackerman.
In Class AA, Seton-La Salle and Keystone Oaks advanced tandems to the WPIAL doubles tournament.
Mike Wilke and Justin Nedzevsky finished as runners-up to Samanyu and Ritwik Gupta, falling in the finals to the Thomas Jefferson duo, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). The SLS pair reached the championships by disposing South Park’s Mark Obeldobel and Drew Patla, 10-4, Bishop Canevin’s Kelly Burgess and Frank Zhu, 10-5, and TJ’s Kash Maheshwari and Cameron Saber, 6-4, 6-0.
Chandra Muthiah and Ryan Cramer won the consolation match, 6-2, 6-3, against Maheshwari and Saber. The KO pair had lost to Gupta and Gupta in the semifinals after having beaten Colin Henke and Joe Baldanzi from Carlynton, 10-0, and Andrew Hannah and Radhir Kothuri from Fort Cherry, 10-4, in earlier rounds of action.
The top three finishers in the WPIAL doubles tournament advance to the PIAA championships set for May 23-24 at the Hershey Racquet Club.