Sophomore likely top seed in singles

Tri-State Sports & News Service

Dave Prevost retired as the Fox Chapel boys tennis coach prior to last season, but that doesn’t mean he completely ignored the Foxes program.

“Last year, I kind of watched from afar and Alex [Slezak] had the team last year,” Prevost said. “I watched the boys while I had other activities at school and didn’t pay a whole lot of attention.”

With Slezak sidelined after back surgery this season, Prevost is back on an interim basis and has now had a full regular season to watch sophomore Robby Shymansky.

And so far he has been impressed by what he has seen.

“Robby’s so easy-going and I think that plays into his game style because he never gets down on himself,” Prevost said. “Whether he’s got a really terrific opponent or just a good, solid opponent, he’s always pushing himself to do better and looking for avenues of getting an advantage.”

Shymansky will be front and center next week when Fox Chapel enters the Section 3 tournament as a precursor for the WPIAL Class 3A championships, which are slated for May 4-5. The No. 1-ranked sophomore in the state, he finished third in the WPIAL last season and capped off a solid freshman season by losing a 64, 6-3 decision to Michael Dickson of Downingtown West in the PIAA singles final.

It was the fourth consecutive season that the WPIAL had a representative in the state championship match, but only Latrobe’s Chad Kissell brought home the gold when he defeated Dickson, 64, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, in 2015.

This year, Shymansky will likely be the favorite heading into the WPIAL championships. The No. 1 seed has won the title three of the past four years and nine out of the past 12. Only Will Nesbitt of Butler, who was seeded fourth in both 2011-12 and No. 2 seed Adam Blasinsky of Central Catholic in 2014 won the title after not being in the top spot.

This year, though, it likely will be that Shymansky will be atop the bracket after the seedings are announced following sectionals. Heading into the team semifinals this week, he had beaten every Class 3A opponent he had faced and he might be better than he was a year ago when he was the Foxes No. 1 singles player.

“He’s just a good, solid player,” Prevost said. “He’s got a good mind for the game, he’s got great stroke mechanics. He’s always looking to make himself better, which is neat, but he’s not so driven that he’s not a team player.”

Shymansky will likely get challenged along the way. His teammate, Milo Baron, is one of the top freshmen in the state, while Peters Township freshman Connor Bruce has opened eyes with his stellar play this season.

Bruce may be the biggest challenger as he is the No. 4 freshman in the state and the top-ranked player in his class in the WPIAL.

Pine-Richland senior Ben Vinarski, Allderdice junior Marcus Mitchell, Moon junior Logan D’Angelo and North Allegheny junior Richard Hofmann, a 2015 PIAA doubles champion, will all have a crack at Shymansky.

Class 2A

Sewickley Academy senior Luke Ross has already been challenged by the best the WPIAL has to offer this season and has escaped unscathed.

So far, the Georgetown recruit had to beat out teammate Sam Sauter for the No. 1 singles spot in his team, beat 2015 WPIAL Class 2A singles champion Luke Phillips of Carlynton in a Section 4 match and even knocked off Shymansky in a non-section match right before the start of the team tournament last week.

And Ross, the 2014 and 2016 WPIAL and reigning state champion, is ready for the challenge of defending his title against a couple of players that he trains with.

“Luke is a great player and he’s going to Cleveland State and Sam Sauter has improved and he’s really up there,” Ross said. “There aren’t too many [great players] in Pittsburgh, so we have to stick together and I also train with Rob Shymansky, who’s also a great player. It’s really beneficial to everyone.”