Great Valley’s Kesti, Gangoli reclaim Ches-Mont American crown

The Great Valley High School senior duo of Sam Kesti and Nikhil Gangoli successfully defended their 2017 Ches-Mont American Division boys’ tennis doubles title Saturday, defeating Unionville’s Ethan Bradley and Victor Li in the American Division championship final at Kennett High School, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Earlier, Gangoli and Kesti had defeated Unionville’s Daniel Hopping and Zach Sokoloff, 6-1, 6-1, in the Ches-Mont National semifinals.

Kesti said, “When we won the [Ches-Mont American] title last year, I don’t think we dropped a set; but this year, there were stronger teams in the tournament. We lost our speed in the second set [of finals], but we wanted to come out in the third set with big serves and big forehands early, and we got the lead right away. Throughout the tournament, I think our consistency was key for us. A lot of times, we would really work to stay in the points, and sometimes that’s all you need.”

This fall, Kesti will be attending West Point; while Gangoli will be majoring in biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Gangoli said, “Sam and I figure that the longer we stay in a match, the better chance we have of winning the points. Our games complement one another; we’re generally good at holding serve, and we’re both mentally tough.”

Last year, after capturing the Ches-Mont American Division doubles championship, Gangoli and Kesti went on to finish second in the PIAA Class AAA District 1 tourney, then placed third in the PIAA Class AAA state doubles tournament.

Bradley and Li had advanced to Saturday’s championship final by defeating Great Valley’s Amish Saini and Ryan Hamel, 6-4, 6-3.

In the third-place match, Hopping and Sokoloff defeated Saini and Hamel 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.

In the Ches-Mont National Division championship final at West Chester Henderson High School, the top seeded duo of Downingtown West’s Brett Graybill and Josh Biskowitz defeated No. 2 seed Ahbinav Pillai and Tristan McBride of Downingtown East, 6-1, 6-1.

Both doubles teams advanced to the National Division championship final by winning all of their tournament matches in straight sets.

In the Ches-Mont National Division semifinals, Graybill and Biskowitz defeated Bishop Shanahan’s Ben Schmidt and Connor Leslie, 6-1, 6-0; while Pillai and McBride defeated Shanahan’s Ryan Connors and Justin Amrein, the third seed in the tournament bracket, 6-4, 6-2.

In the Ches-Mont National consolation finals, Connors and Amrein defeated Schmidt and Leslie, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.