Upper St. Clair duo net title
Ronan Gibbons and Ari Plutko of Upper St. Clair combined to win the Section 4-AAA doubles title and advanced to the WPIAL championships to be played April 25-26.
On April 19 at the Bethel Park High School tennis courts, Gibbons and Plutko defeated the Peters Township tandem of Avi Sharmi and David Lusk in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, to claim the section title.
After a first-round bye, Gibbons and Plutko dispatched Bethel Park’s Gawin Hsu and Luka Maracic, 10-4, and USC’s Daniel Wang and Aadi Markose, 6-2, 6-0, to reach the finals.
Sharma and Lusk dispatched BP’s Hersh Kambli and Sam Basite as well as Mt. Lebanon brothers Joe and Mark Summers in back-to-back 10-1 pro sets in their opening rounds of action.
In the semifinals, Sharma and Lusk then beat Lebo’s Paul Gorun and Nolan McGill, 6-2, 6-0.
Gorun and McGill, who were seeded No. 2 in the tournament, recovered to beat Wang and Markose in the consolation match. They outlasted the USC duo, 1-6, 7-5, 7-5.
All four doubles teams advanced to the WPIAL championships. Opening round action through the semifinals will be played April 25 at North Allegheny High School. The finals will be held April 26 at Bethel Park High School.
The CV duo were seeded No. 1 and advanced to the finals with a pro set win, 10-0, against SP’s Cameron Loveland and Kirk Brdar as well as a semifinal victory, 6-1, 6-4, against Ringgold’s Tony Smida and Juraj Stasko.