Local doubles team falter in WPIAL tournament

Although they captured a section title, there would be no WPIAL championship for Ethan Muza and Ethan Farmer. The Peters Township pair was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the District 7 doubles tournament.
In matches played May 10 at the Club Sport and Health in Monroeville, Muza and Farmer succumbed to Marcus Mitchell and David Missry from Allderdice, 10-4. They had blanked Mason Harbaugh and Aidan Kelly from Hempfield, 10-0, in the opening round of action.
Missry and Mitchell went on to qualify for the PIAA championships to be held May 25-26 at the Hershey Racquet Club in Hershey. The duo won the consolation match by default against North Allegheny’s Richard Hofmann and Ivan Voinov after losing to Hampton’s Ben Ringeisen and Tod Donegan, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
Shady Side Academy’s Naman Dua and Colin Gramley won the WPIAL Class AAA doubles title by beating Ringeisen and Donegan, 6-4, 6-3, in the finals played May 11 at North Allegheny.
Three other area doubles teams faced a tougher fate, falling in the first-round of action.
Bethel Park’s tandem of Max McKitrick and James Ference lost to Mitchell and Missry, 10-0, while Upper St. Clair’s twosome of Harrison Chui and Stefan Cvetkovic fell to Hofmann and Voinov, 10-4.
Meanwhile, Logan D’Angelo and Nick Magnelli from Moon dispatched Mt. Lebanon’s Kyle Carskadden and Owen Descalzi, 10-2.
Muza and Farmer were the Section 4 champions by virtue of their victory, 6-3, 6-1, against Carskadden and Descalzi. Muza and Farmer had beaten Luke Gladden and Asen Dzhalev from Canon-McMillan, 10-2, in the semifinals. McKitrick and Ference took third in the sectional. A three-set win, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, against Chui and Cvetkovic, vaulted them into the WPIAL tournament.
Other local duos in the section tournament included: Ryan Estatico and Mack Mason as well as Joel Fisher and Matt Smith from Chartiers Valley; Ryan Salus and Elian Ascencio from Peters Township; Himanshu Biradar and Jay Oravetz from Canon-Mac; Ross Petrone and Shiram Patel from Upper St. Clair.
Previously, Muza and Carskadden along with Canon-Mac’s Logan Cutts participated in the WPIAL singles championships a week earlier.
A North Strabane resident, Cutts submitted a strong showing in his sophomore season. He posted a 9-1 record in Section 4, beating the No. 1 players from Montour, Chartiers Valley, Bethel Park, USC and Lebo. His lone loss came against Peters Township’s Connor Bruce, who went on to finish as the WPIAL singles runner-up.
Cutts, who also plays hockey for the Big Macs, took third in the section tournament to qualify for the WPIAL championships. He lost to D’Angelo in his first-round match played May 3 at North Allegheny.