STATE COLLEGE — On the cusp of the postseason tournaments, the State College Area High School boys tennis team wrapped up a perfect regular season on Monday, April 22, with a 5-0 victory over visiting Hershey.
The result made the Little Lions 14-0. Both State College and Hollidaysburg entered the week undefeated and vying for the No. 1 seed in the District 6 Class 3A team tournament in early May.
District singles occurred after The Gazette’s press deadline. District doubles are Tuesday, April 30, and Wednesday, May 1.
“The District 6 tournaments will be a challenge,” Little Lions coach Jane Borden said. “The best thing about this team is that they are very close, and they get along great. They push each other and challenge each other, and they understand and accept their roles on the team. It’s an amazing group of guys.”
Mark Sandow and Will Liu were slated to represent State College in the district singles tournament. The pair led the Little Lions by going a combined 10-0 over an eight-day stretch in which their team also defeated Mifflin County, Cedar Cliff, Chambersburg and Central Dauphin by identical 5-0 scores.
Sandow and Liu didn’t lose a set.
Against Hershey, Liu turned in the more dominant performance, turning back Markus Wingert, 6-2, 6-0. Sandow bested Max Laurore, 6-4, 6-4.
Ishan Sharma completed the Little Lion singles sweep with a 6-1, 6-3 decision over Jason Lyn-Sue.
In doubles, Peter Novikov and Evan Zhang were 6-1, 6-1 winners against Aarav Tripathi and Will Olszewski, while Dash Nealon and Jerry Zhang took the measure of Alex Camp and Cooper Hazard, 6-2, 6-0 as State College finished running the table en route to taking the Mid Penn Conference championship.
State won all 40 games in its shutout win at Mifflin County on Friday, April 19. The match was contested in five eight-game sets.
Sandow defeated Quin Miller, Liu beat Landon Mazur, Sharma dispatched Morgan Crader, Nealon and Jerry Zhang overcame Logan Brenneman and Hudson Sellers and Andre Field and Eric Liu blanked Brennan Hancock and Max Persing.
Playing the same format in a doubleheader at Cedar Cliff with Chambersburg on Thursday, April 18, the Little Lions dropped just three games.
Sandow and Sharma were perfect twice in singles, with Sandow going over Chambersburg’s Ian Flores Sanchez and Cedar Cliff’s Adam Hintze, and Sharma scoring his team points against Chambersburg’s Jack Fiegl and Cedar Cliff’s Nathan Rivera.
Will Liu shut out Chambersburg’s Nathan Heimbach but lost a game in beating Cedar Cliff’s Leland Pierce.
Borden mixed and matched her doubles pairings. Against Chambersburg, Nealon teamed with Luke Cessna for an 8-0 whitewash of Dhruv Patel and Lance Jacobs, while Jaxson Cohen and David Min completed the sweep by downing Caden Brenize and Daniel Chen, 8-2.
“We knew we had a very good chance at going undefeated in Mid Penn this year because we have such good depth,” Borden said.
Nealon was back with Evan Zhang to score an 8-0 win over Noah Gallo and Nicolas Wilson of Cedar Cliff, where Field and Eric Liu shut out Jackson Dibble and Ethan Hoffert.
The singles matches were competitive against Central Dauphin on Monday, April 15, but the Little Lions still won all 10 sets.
Sandow defeated Robert Eiswert, 6-2, 6-4, Will Liu turned back Michael Chotiner, 6-4, 6-4, and Sharma posted a 6-3, 6-3 verdict against Aidan O’Neill.
In doubles, Novikov and Evan Zhang stopped Adam Mai and Alex Mendelsohn, 6-0, 6-2. Nealon and Jerry Zhang were 6-0, 6-1 winners against Matt Parker and Neehan Patel.
