No surprise in top seeds for teams
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Fox Chapel and Peters Township have been headed for a meeting in the WPIAL Class 3A championship all season.
In fact, the two teams might be headed toward a couple.
When the WPIAL released its Class 3A team tournament bracket earlier this week, it wasn’t much of a surprise that Fox Chapel was the No. 1 seed and Peters Township No. 2. The two teams met in the 2017 final — a 4-1 Foxes victory for their second consecutive title — and they both brought back a wealth of talent from those squads.
“Every day we work hard and try to take it day by day and match by match,” Fox Chapel coach Alex Slezak said. “Honestly, we don’t worry about who we play and what might happen.”
Still, one match here or there could certainly swing the destination of the championship trophy from north to south.
Last week in its regular-season finale, Fox Chapel was taken to task by Allderdice and barely survived in a 3-2 victory against the Dragons. The Foxes lost the second and third singles matches and needed a threeset victory at No. 2 doubles by Brandon Wei and Michael Kilmer to finish undefeated (10-0) on the season.
“It’s not too concerning because we actually had one of our players miss the match and, truthfully, it was a huge confidence-builder for our doubles players,” Slezak said. “Doubles teams really came through in the clutch when it mattered.”
One area in which Fox Chapel has been able to dominate is at No. 1 singles where Yale recruit Robby Shymansky has had an easy time of it. But the Foxes junior lost his last high school match last year against Peters Township sophomore Connor Bruce, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), in the WPIAL singles finals, so that would not be a locked-up victory against the Indians. That is, if they make it that far. Peters Township has a tough bracket and could face a challenge from No. 3 Shady Side Academy, which may not have a player at No. 1 as tough as Bruce, but is usually strong in the lower singles and doubles. Hampton also has a one-two punch in singles with sophomore Ben Ringeisen and senior Ted Donegan, while Allderdice senior Marcus Mitchell is an outstanding player in his own right.
Class 2A
There are no surprises with the seedings in Class 2A as the tournament begins.
Sewickley Academy, which has won the past 14 titles, heads into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed despite a completely revamped lineup from its undefeated 2017 squad. The Panthers lost an early season match, 41, against an Erie Cathedral Prep squad that features 2017 PIAA Class 3A doubles champions Joe and Matt DeMarco as its top singles players.
They also have a 5-0 win against Class 3A Mt. Lebanon in their only other non-section match.
While Sewickley Academy holds its reserved spot atop the bracket, Indiana has quietly nestled into the No. 2 slot for the second time in three years. Last season, the Little Indians came in as a No. 6 seed, but knocked off No. 3 Hopewell and No. 2 Quaker Valley to get into the finals where they lost to the Panthers, 5-0.
Indiana also has two of its top singles players back as Zachary Palko and Joey Bujdos both made it through to the WPIAL quarterfinals last season. Palko lost to eventual WPIAL and PIAA champion Luke Ross of Sewickley Academy, 10-1, while Bujdos dropped a 10-2 decision to John Monroe of California.