Friday, April 23, 2010

PARKLAND WIN TENNIS TITLE THURSDAY!

Emmaus singles standout Akshay Damany and Central Catholic's third doubles team prevented Parkland from sweeping the Lehigh Valley Conference tennis championships for the third straight season Thursday, but the Trojans nonetheless repeated as the team champion with 27 points.

Parkland has owned the Lehigh Valley Conference, winning the last six titles in a row. The Trojans could not sweep again, however.

Damany downed Allen's Nenyi Micah 10-3 for the No. 1 singles title at Freedom High School. Parkland managed to place third as freshman Egor Ivanov downed Central's Libario Obeid.

Central's Alexander Teay and Brandon Werley topped Parkland's No. 3 doubles team of Bret and Guy Lesavoy, 10-5.

Parkland still won titles at the other two singles and other two doubles slots. The graduation of three-time District 11 singles champion Andrew Schwepfinger and the re-retirement of Coach Art Smith -- replaced by rookie coach Julian Taibi -- could not dethrone the Trojans in their quest for a sixth-straight title.

The Trojans' Sean Devine bounced Central Catholic's Mike Zardet 10-0 while teammate Richard Lichtenwalner outlasted Central's Chris Diefenderfer 10-8 at No. 3 singles. Parkland maintained its claim on the title, but Central Catholic's program clearly made a giant leap in 2010.

The Vikings tied Emmaus with 15 team points for second place.

At No. 2 doubles, Parkland's Alec Lucente and David Miller downed Nazareth's Rich Werner and Brendan Burton, 10-6.

Parkland's No. 4 doubles team of Taha Kermalli and Salil Ketkar won 10-2 over Emmaus' Steve Reyes and Karthik Natarij.

Parkland owns a 10-0 overall record, 8-0 in the league. Emmaus trails at 10-2 and 9-0. Central Catholic rounds out the Big Three with an 8-2 overall mark, 7-1 in the LVIAC.

Bradley A. Huebner is a freelance writer.

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