CLARKS SUMMIT – Abington Heights completed a sweep of the District 2 girls tennis titles when the team of Sona Hanumali and Mary Booth defeated three straight higher-seeded opponents, all in straight sets, to capture the doubles title.
Lackawanna League powers Abington Heights and Scranton Prep combined for five of the six district championships.
Susan Arp won the Class 3A singles title for the Comets.
Scranton Prep’s Alyssa Wigley and Lily Lengyel won Class 2A doubles.
The only title the two teams could not pin down came in Class 2A singles, which was won by defending state champion Ilana Rosenthal from Wyoming Seminary.
The last two wins for each of the championship doubles teams came Oct. 16 at Birchwood Tennis & Fitness Club when the matches were moved indoors because of weather.
Hanumali-Booth, who entered the tournament as the fifth seed, had reached the semifinals with two wins Oct. 13, including over Valley View’s fourth-seeded team of Tessa Stafursky-Ally Stafursky, 7-5, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.
Erika Badner-Alaina Burke from Wallenpaupack came in as the tournament’s top seed, but Hanumali-Booth handled them, 6-1, 6-2, in the semifinals before beating Delaware Valley’s Noelle Holderith-Jessica Wilson, 6-4, 6-1, in the final.
The other Abington Heights entry, sixth-seeded Amishi Amit-Sammy Rosenstein was upset in the first round.
Both Scranton Prep teams made the doubles final where Wigley-Lengyel beat Emma Cuck-Ella Cohen, 6-1, 6-2.
Wigley-Lengyel had reached the final with four straight 6-0, 6-0 victories.
Singles
WILKES-BARRE – Arp repeated her district Class 3A title Oct. 10 at Kirby Park, battling back after dropping the first set to defeat Crestwood’s Hannah Ziegler, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Arp’s championship experience won out after Ziegler’s strong start. The junior took control to win the second and third sets in convincing fashion.
The semifinal also went to three sets with Arp outlasting Delaware Valley’s Holderith, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Hanumali reached the quarterfinals on the first day of the two-day event before losing to Ziegler 6-3, 7-5.
Scranton Prep had two semifinals in Class 2A.
Lengyel gave Rosenthal her toughest match, 6-0, 6-3, in the semifinals.
Montrose freshman Cara Evans knocked off Wigley, a 2022 finalist, 6-3, 6-1.
All District 2 singles and doubles champions advance to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships Nov. 3-4 at the Hershey Racquet Club. There are 16 entries in each bracket with two rounds of competition scheduled each day.
