CENTRAL VALLEY PLAYS NUMBERS GAME WELL
Every team that qualified for the WPIAL boys team tennis playoffs got stuck at home watching the raindrops on Tuesday ... waiting for their opportunity to take their first step toward a championship.
Every team, that is, except for Central Valley, which pulled off a 5- 0 victory against Knoch to move into the Class 2A semifinals on Thursday.
“It was a good test for our team because Knoch is a good, quality team and we won in straight sets in all the matches,” Central Valley coach Tim Casey said. “It showed that the guys are confident and they feel good about moving on.”
Central Valley, which entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed, now has an opportunity to not only get a respite between matches, but also got an opportunity to scout its next opponent when No. 5 North Catholic takes on 12th-seeded Keystone Oaks.
“There’s a possibility that I will,” Casey said. “Any time you can see a team play, it does help just to see how they handle certain situations.”
Central Valley could have gotten a good, long look at North Catholic at the WPIAL Class 2A doubles finals — and vice versa — except neither actually played in the tournament. The Warriors qualified two teams, a pairing of its top singles players Ryan Hardek and Christian Kosinski as well as its No. 1 doubles tandem Ryan Kerr and Andrew Yankello, while the Trojans had the No. 2 seed in Brody Golla and Alex Garvey, but all three pairs were forced to withdraw because of positive COVID contact traces.
Central Valley, though, was able to set that aside and move into the second round of the tournament,
“It was a setback when they couldn’t participate in the WPIAL doubles, but they took it well,” Casey said. “They were ready to play and they did well.”
Franklin Regional
Franklin Regional has been full of firsts so far this season.
Not only did the Panthers team of No. 1 singles player Anup Nadesan and No. 3 Advait Kulkarni bring home the first WPIAL Class 3A doubles title in school history, the team enters the tournament as the top seed for the first time as well.
“There are a lot of talented teams and they’re really well-coached — Upper St. Clair, Shady Side, North Allegheny, Fox Chapel, Mt. Lebanon — those are names that you hear annually,” longtime Franklin Regional coach Howard Fisher said. “We’re usually in the team tournament year after year, but we definitely have a different slot this year. This team is just an exceptionally talented team with an impressive worth ethic.”
Even with a top-loaded senior-laden singles lineup with Nadesan, Shrey Ramesh and Kulkarni, this team will need its doubles teams to come through if it is to bring the Panthers their first championship. The top duo of Vishal Thulasiram — who paired with Ramesh to qualify for the WPIAL doubles tournament — and Aditya Arkalgud, along with the No. 2 pairing of Prerit Yadav and Dhruv Kulkarni.
“It’s really how you match up with the singles and the doubles teams and, if you don’t win at doubles, you’re normally going to have a very difficult time being able to advance,” Fisher said. “This year I think I have two quality doubles teams and, with the types of matches they’ve played, they’ve played very well.”
Still, this is the first time Franklin Regional is going into the WPIAL tournament with championship expectations. But this is also the first time the Panthers head into the finals with a pair of players that earned gold medals a couple of weeks prior.
“We have the confidence going into the tournament, but we know it’s going to be difficult and it should be, because no one really feels any satisfaction if it’s easy,” Fisher said. “One of our sayings this year is to leave everything on the court and have fun because that’s when you’ll be the most relaxed playing and you won’t be so tight.”