MECHANICSBURG — The State College Area High School boys tennis team was challenged for the first time this spring, but the Little Lions were victorious.
Down two games in the decisive third set, Peter Novikov dug in and prevailed over Cumberland Valley’s Ayush Tripathi, 7-5, to win his match and keep State’s perfect record, 3-2, on Wednesday, March 20.
State College also defeated visiting Mechanicsburg, 5-0, losing just one set on Monday, March 25, to run its record this season to 5-0.
“All of the guys did a great job of staying focused on their match and not the weather,” State College coach Jane Borden said of the Little Lions’ Mid Penn Conference victory at Cumberland Valley.
State College split the first two singles matches and the doubles contests against the Eagles. In the second singles, Mark Sandow took the measure of Bhavpreet Singh, 7-6 (6-1), 6-1, for the team point for the Lions. Dash Nealon and Ishan Sharma turned back Cumberland Valley’s Brent Gaspich and Eshan Srivastava, 6-2, 6-3, to score for State in second doubles.
The last match being contested was Novikov’s. The State College player prevailed 6-2 in the first set but dropped the second by a 6-4 count before coming back to clinch the team win.
“He kept a positive mindset and played with poise. It was fun to watch,” Borden said.
Ross Kluger was a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Will Liu in first singles, and the team of Ryan Thomas and Archit Gaddam stopped Evan Zhang and Jerry Zhang, 6-4, 7-5, for Cumberland Valley’s points.
Borden switched around the lineup a bit as State College coasted against Mechanicsburg in its return home. Sharma and Evan Zhang in first doubles were the only Lions needing to go beyond the minimum to score a team point, besting Zach Cameron and Nate Gavin, 6-0, 6-1.
State College won all four of the other matches, love-love.
Sandow beat Daniel Wenger at No. 1 singles, while Liu stopped Matt Mongold and Novikov downed Chris Harry at two and three, respectively.
Andrew Field and Yuli Itskov-Curto blanked Jackson Bones and Daniel Teppig in the other doubles match.
