South Park duo hoping court experience pays off
Tri-State Sports & News Service
South Park senior Joe Toth will have a much different experience going into the PIAA Class 2A doubles tournament than he did the previous time he was there in 2019.
“It was amazing going up there at teams and doubles. It just shows that, if you put in the hard work, it will get you there,” Toth said. “I have the experience of playing on those courts because those courts are definitely faster than normal — the ball bounces faster and I think the experience will help with that.”
Toth will be making his second trip to the state finals where he and then-teammate Stone Ellis went as the WPIAL No. 3 seed and lost in the first round of the tournament, 6-3, 6-0, to eventual third-place finishers Robbie Shaff and Cyrus Elmi of Moravian Academy in 2019. This time, Toth is paired with fellow senior Ethan Bowden and will go in as the WPIAL champion and face Trinity seniors Adam Warren and Tommy Hallahan, the third- place finishers from District 3, at 10 a.m. Friday at Hershey Racquet Club.
South Park also played in the PIAA team championships last weekend when the team was ousted, 3-0, by eventual state champion Lancaster Catholic.
Toth won’t be the only WPIAL player with experience playing in this particular tournament ... or having played there recently.
Quaker Valley junior Will Sirianni, who won his match in the team tournament Friday when the Quakers dropped a 3-2 nail-biter to Conrad Weiser, was paired with Potter Oliver in 2019 and lost in the first round to District 6 champions Zach Hammond and Max Lauver of Juniata Valley.
This time, he will be matched up with Thomas Pangburn and the duo will face District 12 champions Mitchell Bramlage and Ryan Bill of Devon Prep.
Seniors Oscar Nigam and Allen Gao of Winchester Thurston, the WPIAL consolation match winners, will square off with Lower Moreland’s Sam Yoon and Mark Berdichevsky.
No WPIAL doubles team won a match in the 2019 tournament.
Class 3A
Franklin Regional had never won a WPIAL Class 3A doubles title before seniors Anup Nadesan and Advait Kulkarni pulled it off this year.
Now that Panthers tandem have turned their sites on doing something else the school has never done.
Winning a state championship.
“I think that, how we prepare for states is that we just keep doing what we’re doing,” Nadesan said. “If we play aggressively, I think that me and Advait, we’ve played long enough that, we have the game, it’s just a mind-set and we can’t let the game get to us. We have a chance against anyone.”
Nadesan and Kulkarni will have an opportunity to put that theory to the test at 2 p.m. Friday when they take the court at Hershey Racquet Club against Downingtown East sophomores Abhiraj and Abhineet Srivastava, the thirdplace finishers from District 1.
“There are obviously some points we can improve on, but as of now, if we can build on our strengths and strengthen them even more and perfect our weaknesses where they’re not taking advantage as much, I think we’ll be ready,” Kulkarni said. “I think we’ll go far.”
If Franklin Regional takes its first-round match, it will play the winner between District 12 champions Jordan and Julian Paris of LaSalle College and Isaiah Trumbull and Balaji Alagar of City League champion Obama Academy.
Franklin Regional won’t be the only WPIAL school in the PIAA draw — Class 3A runner-up North Allegheny, with senior Chase Davidson and junior Shomik Telang, will be looking for the Tigers first championship since Jared Isaacs teamed with Kevin Goth (2014) and Richard Hoffman (2015) to win back-to-back titles.
North Allegheny will open its run against the District 2 representatives from Abington Heights senior Sam Weis and sophomore Sam Christman.
“I just have a lot of practice to do,” Davidson said. “I try to practice as much as I can. I just have to put in a lot of hours and hopefully it will pay off once we go to states.”
Having North Allegheny and Franklin Regional meet in the state championship match is not out of the realm of possibility. Now, would the result being flipped?
In 2019, Naman Dua and Colin Gramley of Shady Side Academy defeated Connor Bruce and Ellian Ascencio of Peters Township in the WPIAL finals before the Indians came back to beat the Bulldogs, 6-3, 6-3, in the state championship match.