Moravian Academy prevails in tight race
Edges Southern Lehigh and Saucon Valley to win the team title
As usual, the Moravian Academy boys tennis team is peaking at the right time.
Despite falling to Southern Lehigh earlier in the season, which enabled the Spartans to the Colonial League regular season title, the Lions have steadily improved in the past month.
That progress was on display on Thursday in the Colonial League tournament at Saucon Valley High School.
Moravian Academy claimed one gold, two silver and two bronze medals to win the team title in a close race with Southern Lehigh and Saucon Valley.
The Lions accumulated 14 total points, just ahead of the Spartans who finished with 12, while the Panthers were a close third with 11.
Another positive is the fact that coach Rick Brown has his best lineup in place just in time for the postseason.
“The kids did improve but it was also a matter of having all our kids back. We didn’t have our full lineup for some of the season,” Brown said. “They all want to work hard, play a lot of tennis and get good at it.”
No. 1 and 2 singles saw an all-Saucon Valley versus Southern Lehigh final. The two teams split when
Deven Pandey of Saucon Valley beat Spencer Goodman at No. 1, and Harrison Clark of Southern Lehigh knocked off Joey Andres. Moravian Academy finished third in both flights.
The Lions captured their only title at No. 3 singles when Brian Yang beat the Panthers’ Greg Ackerman.
Bangor’s No. 1 doubles team was the biggest surprise of the tournament. Nicholas McCoy-Kaden Dowd came into the tournament as the No. 5 seed and knocked off the No. 4 and 1 seeds before defeating the No. 3 seed from Moravian Academy in the finals.
Then, at No. 2 doubles, Notre Dame-Green Pond saw great success as fourth-seeded Tony Caiazzo-Jay Becker also knocked off a Moravian Academy team in the finals to claim gold. The Crusaders impressed the field as they had a placewinner in all five flights, which enabled the team to a fourthplace finish.
As Colonial League individuals look ahead to next week’s district singles tournament, the team tournament figures to be close. In 2A, the front-runners are Moravian Academy and Saucon Valley. Over in 3A, Southern Lehigh will look to challenge the likes of Parkland, Liberty and Freedom.
“We’re balanced and all of my players are good kids,” Brown said of his Lions. “We have a legitimate shot at team districts, and I think we will need to get through Saucon Valley to win a championship.”