Chucks tennis in D9 Singles tournament, Gigliotti advances to semi-finals

ST. MARYS — Two members of the Punxsutawney Chucks tennis team, Ben Gigliotti and Zayin Spearing, took part in the opening rounds of the District 9 singles tournament on Monday afternoon in St. Marys.

By the end of the day, Gigliotti had advanced to the semi-finals, which are to be played today. Gigliotti will play in his semi-final match against Elk County Catholic’s number one Anthony Messineo at Clearfield High School with a 2 p.m. start time.

Gigliotti opened his tournament with 10-6 victory over Johnathan Knox (Brockway), and in the next round, he bested Johnsonburg’s Logan Krug 10-2.

For Spearing, he opened his tournament play with a 10-3 win over Jared Marchiori (Brockway), but in the next round, DuBois Central Catholic’s Neel Gupta beat Spearing 10-7.

“Both Ben and Zayin won their first-round matches very quickly,” said Punxsy coach Mike Emhoff. “Ben’s secondround match was a good match with him coming out on top.”

He added, “Zayin played a nail-bitter against Gupta, and it was a very close match. He was down 7-4, but battled back before loosing 10-7. But, both Zayin and Gupta played very well.”

The other semi-final match will see Gupta playing St. Marys’ Ryan Holjencin at Clearfield as well.