Pa. Boys | Lower Merion, Lower Moreland teams win state tennis titles

Yesterday was a good day for District 1 boys' tennis teams at the PIAA state championships at the Hershey Racquet Club as Lower Merion and Lower Moreland each took home team titles.

Lower Merion (23-0) won its second straight state Class AAA title with a 3-2 title win over Upper St. Clair, and Lower Moreland edged Sewickley Academy, 3-2, for the Class AA crown.

The second-doubles team of Steven Chen and Dan Zakheim provided the title-clinching point in Lower Merion's 46th consecutive victory over two years with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over John Henderson and Alex Romanius.

Courtney Scott and William Zhang also prevailed in their singles matches against the Panthers from Pittsburgh as the Aces built a 3-0 advantage.

Earlier in the day, Lower Merion knocked off Pennsbury, 5-0, in the semifinals as Scott, Robby Kay and Zhang combined to win 36 of 38 total games in the singles.

Upper St. Clair earned its spot in the state final with a 4-1 win over Council Rock South.

Class AA. Lower Moreland needed a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 comeback victory at second doubles by Phil Lieberman and Dean Bogin to defeat Sewickley in the final.

District 1 singles champion Taylor Cohen and Samuel Harmatz added straight-set singles wins.

The Lions made the final with a 5-0 semifinal win over District 3 runner-up Lancaster Catholic, including a 7-5, 6-4 win by Cohen and another three-set win by Lieberman and Bogin, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Alec Synnestvedt's four goals powered

Academy of the New Church

past visiting

Friends' Central

, 12-3, to capture the Friends Schools League championship.

It was the eighth league title for the Lions since the league formed 12 years ago.

ANC also finished unbeaten in two leagues, going 7-0 in the Friends Schools League and 6-0 in the Northeast League.

Duncan Herder, Steven Nehlig, Alex Rohtla and Doug Keith each added two goals for the Lions (13-1 overall), and Rohtla also had three assists. Goalie Christian Herder made six saves on nine shots.

Germantown Friends

won its fourth straight Friends Schools League title by beating visiting

Shipley

, 18-2.

Jesse Biddle, a freshman lefthander, pitched a two-hitter and Marek Loder went 3 for 4 with four runs scored and three RBIs. Mike Barsotti went 3 for 3 with a home run and four runs scored.

The lopsided score was unexpected as the teams split a pair of regular-season games by identical 8-6 scores.

Catholic South. Chris Dengler and Tim Collins each pitched two-hit complete games and carried Archbishop Carroll to a pair of wins in the fourth-place playoff at La Salle.

The Patriots, who will face Monsignor Bonner in Tuesday's playoffs at Philadelphia University, beat Roman Catholic, 9-4, in the first game as Dengler avenged a 3-2 loss to the Cahillites two weeks ago.

Tim Weglicki (two RBIs), Chris Lisowski (one RBI) and J.T. Thomas (one RBI) had two hits each for Carroll.

In the second game, Carroll blanked Kennedy-Kenrick, 9-0, behind Collins' two-strikeout, four-walk pitching, and Weglick's 3-for-4 hitting from his No. 6 spot in the batting order.

Nonleague. Turnabout was fair play for Malvern Prep in a doubleheader against visiting Conwell-Egan.

The Friars (23-10), after dropping a one-run (5-4) game in the opener, came back to win the second game by a run (7-6). Matt McEndy's two-run homer in the fifth inning of the second game turned out to be the key hit.

In the first game, the Eagles ralled for four runs in the top of the fourth to overcome what had been a 3-1 lead for Malvern Prep.

Penn Charter

won its second straight Inter-Ac League title, turning back strong challenges from

Chestnut Hill

and

Malvern Prep

.

The Quakers got a pair of individual first-place finishes from Daureen David (100 and 200 meters) to amass 65 team points, ahead of CHA's 51 and Malvern Prep's 501/2.

Germantown Academy's Alex Holcombe won the George Greenwood award for most individual points (16).