ALTOONA — Depth has been a strong card that the State College Area High School boys tennis team was able to play this spring.
However, when the short-handed Little Lions were quite literally put to the test, it turned out to be just enough of a crack to knock the District 4-6 champions out of the PIAA Class 3A team tennis tournament when Manheim Township of District 3 eked out a 3-2 first-round victory on Tuesday, May 14, at Gorilla House Gymnasium.
It was the first loss of the season for the Little Lions in 17 matches.
“That’s a pretty good record. However, it wasn’t so much the record that made this team what it was,” State College coach Jane Borden said. “The brotherhood, compassion, dedication to practice and the hard work in the classroom and off the court is what made this team one of the best I’ve ever coached. These boys are truly wonderful young people.”
Manheim Township was able to pull out the match when brothers Chris and Nate Hager in the second doubles slot came back to outlast State’s Dash Nealon and Jerry Zhang, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
“We had trouble finishing points, sticking to gameplans and were unable to execute when needed,” Borden said. “Manheim played well but we definitely didn’t play the way we are capable of playing as a team.”
Unfortunately, Borden was forced to juggle the lineup that had been so successful for the Lions in the prior 16 team contests.
Will Liu, who usually played second singles for State, was unavailable for the first-round interdistrict matchup.
Liu had to take his AP college board exams, Borden explained.
“Not having Will definitely put us on our heels,” Borden said. “With him we would have likely won the match easily.”
Borden said the Little Lions have been in this position in the past but were never in a situation where players had to miss the team match because they could reschedule the AP exam.
State College’s 2 points came from the No. 1 doubles team of Peter Novikov and Evan Zhang and Eric Liu in the third singles position.
Novikov and Zhang registered a 6-3, 6-3 win over Jake Palandjian and Jack Reynolds.
Eric Liu dispatched Manheim Township’s Canyon Curry handily, 6-0, 6-2.
“Eric started the season with a broken wrist and had his cast removed about five weeks ago. He stepped into the lineup for Will and played extremely well,” Borden said. “He worked hard all season and was ready when called upon. We were all really proud of him. Peter and Evan played well, too, and really did what they had to (to) control the match.
“Once the match started, we realized we could probably win without Will if we played our best tennis,” Borden said. “Our other guys were disappointed with the way they played.”
Manheim Township took the top two singles points. Kurt Chiong survived a 7-5 first set with the Little Lions’ Mark Sandow and then got hot and took the second set, 6-0. With Will Liu out, Ishan Sharma slid up from third singles to second and was turned back, 6-2, 6-2, by Blue Streaks senior Peter Sanchez.
State College should enter next season in a strong position to repeat as district champion — Jerry Zhang is the only member of the regular starting lineup who is a senior and will graduate.
Andrew Field and David Min also are graduating.
“Those guys were part of the team that pushed us every day in practice,” Borden said.
Borden said there are some talented freshmen coming up that should push the veteran nucleus for court time in 2025.
“Sadly, if we don’t figure out a way to combine athletics with some of our best academic students in the district and we have to sub out for them again next year in the PIAA state tournament, the results probably won’t be any different,” Borden said. “I’m hopeful we can get back to the way things were done before 2024.”
