Cohen wins second straight crown

The tennis trophy cases at the Taylor Cohen household and at Lower Moreland High school got a little more crowded yesterday.

At the Hershey Racquet Club,

Lower Moreland

's Cohen won his second consecutive PIAA State Class AA singles title with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Alex Veronis of

Lancaster Catholic

.

That's three years in the states and three titles for Cohen, who teamed with Sam Harmatz to win the state doubles title in 2006. In addition, he also won the District 1 Class AA singles title.

Cohen's relatively easy win over Veronis, the District 3 champion, was especially impressive given Veronis' path to the title match.

Veronis won, 6-0, 6-0, in the first round and then dispatched District 5 champion Steven Dull of

Bedford

by the same score in the quarterfinals. He also defeated District 7 runner-up Daniel Goldblum of

Winchester Thurston

, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals, losing five games in three matches and 12 games in his one match against Cohen.

Cohen helped Lower Moreland win the state team championship, capturing the title with a 3-2 win over

Sewickley Academy

last week.

Cohen's performance wasn't the only cause for celebration in Huntingdon Valley.

The Lions' doubles team of Harmatz and Drew Hoffman advanced to yesterday's finals against the Conrad Weiser team of senior Tommy Mayer and sophomore Mike Mayer, beating them, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1.

Harmatz and Hoffman needed to win the second-set tie-breaker to avoid the consolation prize.

The day completed an extraordinary sweep for Lower Moreland tennis, taking home gold in singles and doubles to go along with last week's state team title win.

In the semifinals, Harmatz and Hoffman quickly dispatched

Wyomissing

's pair of Dan Malloy and Brian Allen, 6-2, 6-0.

Class AAA.

Penn State-bound Chris Hasyn of

North Penn

won his second straight state singles title with a 7-5, 6-4 win over

Great Valley

's Mark Milbrandt.

The win avenged a three-set defeat to Milbrandt in the District 1 singles' final.

Hasyn beat District 7 champion Casey Watt of

Pine Richland

, 6-3, 6-0, in the semifinals, while Milbrandt advanced to the title match with a 6-3, 6-2 win over

Upper St. Clair

's Jay Jones.

In doubles,

Central Bucks South

's tandem of Fernando Tovia and Jake Vanderploeg reached the final before falling to the

Peters Township

team of Doug Subotis and Andrew Nixon, 6-3, 6-3. Subotis and Nixon finished second in the District 7 tournament last week.

Third place went to the District 7 champions,

Shady Side

's Chris Mengel and Josh Ferraccio, who nipped

Strath Haven

's Forrest Grimstead and Adam Salam, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.