Abington Heights made it 13 District 2 Class 3A boys team tennis titles in a row with a victory over Valley View in Tuesday’s championship match.
Kevin Carroll | Abington Journal
Abington Heights followed up extending its District 2 title streak by breaking a slump in state play and matching the best boys tennis team finish in school history.
The Comets won once at Birchwood Racquet Club to make it to Hershey with the top eight teams in the state, then won again to reach the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association semifinals.
Abington Heights has won 13 straight District 2 Class 3A team championships.
The Comets also won two state matches to reach the semifinals in 2014 and 2015. Since then, they have fallen six straight times in first-round matches in state play. They did not play in the PIAA tournament in 2018 and 2019 because they were the District 2 champions, but lost to District 4’s Williamsport in the subregional championship, and there was no state tournament in 2020 because of COVID.
The Comets, who also won the Lackawanna League title, finished 17-1.
Conestoga 3, Abington Heights 0
District 1 champion Conestoga won the top two singles matches and No. 2 doubles in straight sets May 16 at the Hershey Indoor Racquet Club.
Conestoga (20-2) lost to North Allegheny 3-1 in the championship match later in the day.
Abington Heights 3, Upper St. Clair 1
Abington Heights swept doubles to win its first match in Hershey, taking the state quarterfinal May 15.
William Whitman-Bryce Comstock defeated Myles Owens-Liam Farrell 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1. Rex Wanjte-Sebastian Meyer started and finished strong at No. 2 to get past Daniel Smith-Brody Goldberg 6-0, 2-6, 6-3.
William Arp defeated Sidney Weissert 6-3, 6-1 at second singles for the other point.
Upper St. Clair, the District 7 runner-up, finished 12-3.
Abington Heights 3, Radnor 2
The Comets won a state match for the first time in more than a decade when freshman Prayush Mallaiah pulled out a third-set, tie-breaker victory at first singles May 12 at Birchwood.
Mallaiah beat Carter McIlwain 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2).
Brady Comstock defeated Jojo Eggs-Krings 6-4, 6-3 at third singles.
Farrell-Bryce Comstock defeated Eli Knight-Jacob Kwon 6-0, 7-5 at first doubles.
Radnor, the fourth-place team from District 1, finished 16-5.
Abington Heights 3, Valley View 0
WILKES-BARRE – Despite some turnover in the lineup, despite sending out a fairly young team, Abington Heights has still made it clear that the program is still head and shoulders above the District 2 field in Class 3A.
The Comets only dropped two total games across all five matches, winning two singles matches and a doubles match to sweep Valley View 3-0 and extend its title streak with the comfortable win May 5 at Kirby Park.
“Every year is different, we graduated five seniors … we’re actually a younger team this year,” Abington Heights coach Art Comstock said. “It’s always special, every year we make a list of goals and this is one of them.”
The Comets went up 1-0 quicker than anticipated in the championship, as Valley View’s Nick Burak was forced to retire with an injury after battling through one game against Abington Heights freshman Prayush Mallaiah.
William Arp posted a 6-0, 6-0 double bagel in the next singles match to make it 2-0, and another tidy 6-0, 6-0 win from Brody Goldberg and Sebastian Meyer wrapped things up for the Comets.
In the six decided matches for Abington Heights across both their semifinal win over Hazleton Area and their finals victory over Valley View, the Comets didn’t drop a single game.
Mallaiah, Arp and Goldberg-Meyer were also the winners in the 3-0 victory over Hazleton Area.
