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York Dispatch Staff Report

Dallastown’s postseason run has come to an end.

The Wildcats fell to Conestoga 5-0 on Tuesday afternoon in a PIAA State Class AAA Boys’ Tennis Team Tournament match in Philadelphia.

Conestoga is coming off consecutive AAA boys’ tennis team championships, and showed on Tuesday that it’s loaded with talent again this year.

The Pioneers handed the Wildcats a straight-sets defeat, losing a total of just two games in three singles matches.

Dallastown’s No. 2 doubles team, Nick Barley and Nick Jones, bowed to Ryan Swope and Max Howarth, 6-2, 6-3, and the Wildcats’ No. 1 team of Michael Gibbs and Dalton Childs lost to Josh Sutker and Steven Yang, 6-1, 6-2.

John Schmitt, Kyle Salaga and Payce Berridge played in the singles matches for Dallastown.

Despite the defeat, the Wildcats still finished with a sparkling 15-3 overall record. Coach Mark Koons’ team won the York-Adams Division I title and finished third in the District 3-AAA Team Tournament.

Conestoga is the District 1-AAA champion.

By DICK VanOLINDA/505-5047/@ydsports

HERSHEY — Dallastown’s tennis players are hoping their goal to compete in the state team tournament was only delayed on Tuesday.

The Wildcats lost, 4-0, to Lancaster-Lebanon League champion Manheim Township in a District 3-AAA semifinal at Hershey Racquet Club.

Dallastown, which could have clinched a berth in states with a victory, will have one more chance to advance to the PIAA event.

The Wildcats will take on Hershey at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, also at Hershey Racquet Club, in the third-place match.

The winning team will move on to states, while the losing team will see its team season come to an end.

“We have a great senior group, and we love the leadership they provide,” Dallastown head coach Mark Koons said following Tuesday’s match. “We would like to keep the season going for them.”

Koons thinks that the match against Hershey will be extremely close.

“I’m expecting five really good matches,” he said. “I know they lost 3-0 (to Hempfield), but Hempfield’s one and two players are very good. The other three matches (No. 3 singles and No. 1 and No. 2 doubles) were really good matches.”

Dallastown had some excellent shot-making against Manheim Township, but the Blue Streaks refused to let the Wildcats derail their drive to the title match.

John Schmitt, the Wildcats’ No. 1 player, led, 5-4, in the first set, but Manheim Township’s Bobby Belser rallied to win, 7-5, 6-2.

Dallastown’s Kyle Salaga came back from a 5-2 deficit to tie the second set of his match with Griffin Clark at 5-5. Clark, though, ended up winning, 6-1, 7-5.

The Wildcats’ Payce Berridge won the first set at No. 3 singles, 6-4. The Blue Streaks’ Ben Wirth answered with a 6-1 decision in the second set and was leading 1-0 in the third set when he and Berridge were called off the court because Manheim Township had earned the deciding third point in the 3-2 format (three singles and two doubles).

The Blue Streaks swept the doubles with Dan Ansel and John Kitsock prevailing 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1, and Ben Weiner and Tyler Lewin coming out on top in a hard-fought match at No. 2 doubles, 6-4, 6-4.

“That’s the best I’ve seen our No. 2 doubles team (Nick Barley and Nick Jones) play all season,” Koons said. “John (Schmitt) had to force the action at No. 1 singles to try and win the points. Manheim Township’s No. 2 player is the best No. 2 player in the district, and Kyle (Salaga) fought hard in that match, and at No. 3, you had two of the best No. 3 players in the district.”

The loss was just Dallastown’s second of the season. The Wildcats will take a 14-2 mark into Wednesday’s match.

“I’m certainly not disappointed with the way we competed today,” Koons said. “We just faced a team that was a little better. If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that we would be in a position to win a berth in states, I would have been surprised.”

Three of the five Wildcats who competed in the 2012 York-Adams Singles Tournament graduated.

– Reach Dick VanOlinda at dvanolinda@yorkdispatch.com.

York Dispatch Staff Report

The Dallastown duo of John Schmitt and Payce Berridge has been seeded No. 3 for the upcoming District 3-AAA Doubles Tournament.

The York-Adams League championship team was placed behind the top-seeded team of Ben Kunkel and Peter Landis from Red Land and the No. 2-seeded team of Josh Kaiser and Colin Wolgemuth of Manheim Central. Exeter’s Johah Buczewski and Ryan Lessig are seeded No. 4.

The other York-Adams teams in the District 3-AAA field are South Western’s Anthony Miserendino and Quinn Meyer, who finished second in York-Adams Tournament, and Dallastown’s Kyle Salaga and Mike Gibbs, who were third in the York-Adams Tournament.

In the District 3-AA doubles event, no York-Adams team earned a top-four seed. The seeded AA teams are: Lancaster Country Day’s Spencer Rhoads and Wes Davis at No. 1, Wyomissing’s Rodrigo Saad and Dan Trifoi at No. 2, ELCO’s Adam Bahney and Galen McNaughton at No. 3 and Camp Hill’s Paxton Fitzpatrick and Patrick Yang at No. 4.

The York-Adams teams competing in the event are: Biglerville’s Cole Herzing and Evan Foster, who won the York-Adams title; York Catholic’s Adam Hack and Matthew Koury, who finished second in the York-Adams Tournament; and York Suburban’s Michael Hogg and Elliot Diehl, who finished third in the York-Adams Tournament.

BOYS’ TENNIS

District 3 Doubles Tournament

At Hershey Racquet Club

Friday’s First-Round Matches

Class AAA

(1) Kunkel/Landis (Red Land) vs. Salaga/Gibbs (Dallastown); Mets/Wagner (Hershey) vs. Miriaka/Tull (Cedar Crest); (4) Buczewski/Lessig (Exeter) vs. Carl/Espenshade (Lower Dauphin); Belser/Clark (Manheim Twp.) vs. Heiniman/Sassaman (Conrad Weiser; Esh/Zechman (Conestoga Valley) vs. Ringquist/Baer (Mechanicsburg); Athey/Martinez (Hempfield) vs. (3) Schmitt/Berridge (Dallastown); Ansel/Kitsock (Manheim Twp.) vs. Miserendino/Meyer (South Western); Lynn/Naugle (Cumberland Valley) vs. (2) Kaiser/Wolgemuth (Manheim Central).

Class AA

(1) Rhoads/Davis (Lancaster Country Day) vs. Hack/Koury (York Catholic); Harnish/Scott (Lancaster Mennonite) vs. Strawoet/Malanka (James Buchanan); (4) Fitzpatrick/Yang (Camp Hill) vs. Boyer/Paganelli (Fleetwood); Pinto/Pinkerton (Brandywine Heights) vs. Pen/McKernan (Lancaster Country Day); Herzing/Foster (Biglerville) vs. Balachi/Pilliod (Berks Catholic); Etter/Price (East Pennsboro) vs. (3) Bahney/McNaughton (ELCO); Hogg/Diehl (York Suburban) vs. Ebersole/Hollinger (Donegal); Riley/Slotcavage (Lancaster Catholic) vs. (2) Saad/Trifoi (Wyomissing).

York Dispatch Staff Report

For the second time this season, Dallastown and South Western faced off in a boys’ tennis thriller on Thursday.

On April 4, the Wildcats outlasted the Mustangs, 4-3, in a marathon match in Hanover. That outcome effectively decided the York-Adams Division I championship. Dallastown finished 8-0 in the division, while South Western took second at 7-1.

The two teams met again on Thursday at the Hershey Racquet Club in a District 3-AAA quarterfinal match. Dallastown entered as the No. 2 seed, while South Western was seeded No. 7.

The contest again went down to the wire, with Dallastown again coming up a narrow winner. This time the final score was 3-2, using the PIAA scoring format of three singles matches and two doubles matches. A player who competed in singles could not compete in doubles.

The Wildcats (14-1) now advance to the district semifinals at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday back at the Hershey Racquet Club against No. 3 seed Manheim Township (13-0). Township downed No. 6 seed Manheim Central in their quarterfinal on Thursday, 3-1.

The winner of Tuesday’s match will sew up a PIAA state berth. The loser will have to win the third-place match on Wednesday to earn a state berth.

South Western’s season ends at 11-3, while Manheim Central’s season ends at 15-2.

In Thursday’s victory over South Western, Kyle Salaga came up with a key victory at No. 2 singles, rallying to beat Quinn Meyer, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5. Meyer was the York-Adams League Singles Tournament runner-up, while Salaga lost in the quarterfinal round of that same event.

Dallastown also received a singles victory at No. 3 from Payce Berridge, 6-3, 6-4, over Michael Fabrick.

York-Adams singles champion Anthony Miserendino won the No. 1 singles match for South Western, beating John Schmitt, 6-2, 7-6 (2).

The Wildcats took the No. 1 doubles match behind the team of Michael Gibbs and Dalton Childs, who defeated Jordan Heavel and Joe Harrison, 6-2, 6-3. Brett Rudisill and Ben Sentz of South Western captured the No. 2 doubles match, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-1, beating Nick Bailey and Nick Jones.

By DICK VANOLINDA 505-5407 / @ydsports

York Dispatch Staff Report

HANOVER — There were no surprises on the opening day of the York-Adams Boys’ Tennis Doubles Tournament.

All eight seeded teams, four in Class AAA and four in Class AA, won their matches in straight sets to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.

Dallastown’s John Schmitt and Payce Berridge, the top-seeded team in Class AAA, didn’t lose a single game in either of their two matches. South Western’s Anthony Miserendino and Quinn Meyer, the No. 2-seeded AAA team, dropped a total of just one game in two matches.

York Catholic’s Adam Hack and Matthew Koury won 6-0, 6-0, in their only AA match. Hack and Koury make up the top-seeded team.

In Wednesday’s Class AAA semifinals at South Western High School, Schmitt and Berridge will take on Susquehannock’s Kaltrin Bullaj and Dan Ferraro, while Miserendino and Meyer will meet Dallastown’s Kyle Salaga and Michael Gibbs.

The AA semifinals will feature Hack and Koury going up against Delone Catholic’s Adam Fisher and Matt Juchno, and York Suburban’s Michael Hogg and Elliot Diehl taking on Biglerville’s Cole Herzing and Evan Foster.

The championship matches will follow the semifinals.

COLUMN By DICK VANOLINDA 505-5407 / @ydsports

York Dispatch Staff Report

Spring Grove rallied from a 3-2 deficit after singles action to sweep the doubles contests and earn a 4-3 boys’ tennis victory over Northeastern in Manchester on Tuesday.

Grant Wierman and Andrew Bowman won at No. 1 doubles for the Rockets, while Elijah Robert and Blake Harlacher took the No. 2 doubles contest. Both wins came in straight sets.

Bowman also won at No. 2 singles, while Harlacher triumphed at No. 4 singles.

Northeastern received singles wins from Logan Fries (No. 1), Sean McWatters (No. 3) and Chris Wickline (No. 5).

Both teams entered the match at 0-7 in York-Adams Division I action. Spring Grove improved to 2-11 overall, while Northeastern dropped to 1-11.

OTHER BOYS’ TENNIS

CENTRAL YORK 4, YORK SUBURBAN 3: At Suburban, Josh Strickler and Jeremy Garling won the No. 2 doubles match to give Central the non-league win. Strickler, Tyson Chen and Chris Maderitz won singles matches for the Panthers. Michael Hogg and Michael Peck won singles matches for Suburban, while Hogg teamed with Elliot Diehl to win at No. 1 doubles. Central improved to 9-4 overall, while Suburban fell to 8-5.

By DICK VANOLINDA 505-5407 / @ydsports

DALLASTOWN — They weren’t the most heralded group of Wildcats to ever walk on the tennis courts.

The 2013 Dallastown boys’ tennis team wasn’t even the favorite to win the York-Adams Division I title.

Coach Mark Koons’ team, though, pulled out a 4-3 victory in a midseason showdown with two-time defending champion South Western to put itself in position to capture the championship. The Wildcats then wrapped up an unbeaten league season and another Division I crown with a 6-1 victory over Central York on Monday afternoon. It’s the first division title since 2010 for Dallastown, which had won six-straight Division I titles from 2002 until 2007.

John Schmitt, Kyle Salaga, Payce Berridge, Nick Barley and Michael Gibbs earned singles points on Monday with straight-set victories.

Salaga and Gibbs took No. 1 doubles, and Central’s Devin Lehigh and Jeremy Garling captured No. 2 doubles. Both doubles matches were 10-game pro sets.

“It’s a nice feeling because this is the first one that we’ve won in a long time that we were not necessarily expected to win,” Koons said. “They (the players) worked hard in practice and believed they could do it.”

The Wildcats did it with a No. 1 player (Schmitt) who played No. 7 the year before, and a No. 2 player (Salaga) who climbed the tennis ladder from No. 5 in 2012. Salaga spent some time at No. 3 this year before winning a challenge match to move to No. 2.

“The competition we have between each other (in practice and challenge matches) helps make us stronger as a team,” he said. “We talk to each other on the court, and we encourage each other.”

Salaga said he worked a lot in the offseason preparing for his senior year. The preparation included matches at Wisehaven on Wednesday nights starting at the beginning of February.

Schmitt used to play quite a bit of tennis when he was 10 and 11, but then he stopped playing. The sophomore returned to competitive tennis last year when he joined the team.

“John is going to be a really good player for us,” Koons said. “He reminds me a lot of (former Dallastown star) Billy Heird with his athleticism. He’s strong and hates to lose.”

Despite the loss, Central still finished 6-2 in Division I, and 24 of the Panthers’ 28 players will be eligible to play next year.

“I’m pleased that our players developed enough this year that the last match was meaningful,” Central coach Eric Sweitzer said. “We have a few kids who are on the cusp of being nice players. Today, Dallastown did a better job, court in and court out, of executing. It was a learning experience for them (Central’s players).”

Dallastown has qualified for the District 3 Class AAA Team Tournament. The Wildcats are No. 2 in the current rankings. South Western is listed at No. 8, and Central at No. 10. The top eight teams qualify. The Panthers have a match on Tuesday against York Suburban.

OTHER BOYS’ TENNIS

YORK SUBURBAN 4, BIGLERVILLE 3: At Suburban, the Trojans captured the York-Adams Division II match in doubles, when Matthew Manzella and Michael Peck won the No. 2 match, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-2. Elliot Diehl, Peck and Sam Atkinson also each captured a singles victory for the Trojans. Suburban finished divisional play at 5-2 and improved to 8-4 overall.

– Reach Dick VanO linda at dvanolin da@yorkdispatch.com.

By DICK VANOLINDA 505-5407 / @ydsports

GLEN ROCK — The hours of practice on warm days last summer prepared Susquehannock tennis players Kaltrin Bullaj and Dan Ferraro for the situation they found themselves in on a cool spring day.

With their team leading, 3-2, after the singles matches on Wednesday, Bullaj and Ferraro walked on to the court together for the No. 1 doubles match against York Catholic’s Adam Hack and Matt Koury.

The Warriors needed to win at least one of the two doubles matches to insure a victory in their showdown with the Fighting Irish. Both teams entered with 5-1 records in York-Adams Division II.

Bullaj and Ferraro delivered the deciding point, although their victory wasn’t quite as easy as the scores (6-2, 6-2) indicated. Hack and Koury were within, 3-2, in the first set before Bullaj and Ferraro ran off three straight games.

In the second set, the York Catholic duo fought off six match points before Bullaj ripped a wicked unreturnable forehand service return on the seventh match point.

York Catholic’s Sam Hernandez and Scott Bartkowiak captured the No. 2 doubles match for a final score of 4-3 in favor of the Warriors.

Susquehannock’s triumph, combined with Delone Catholic’s 6-1 victory over Hanover, gave the Warriors a share of the division title with the Squires.

Susquehannock shared the crown in 2012 with two teams: York Suburban and Biglerville.

“It feels good to win it (the division) again,” Bullaj said. “We really wanted sweatshirts (for winning the division title). Before we won it last year, it had been 10 years since Susquehannock won the (boys’) division.”

Bullaj teamed with Zach Hanson last year to capture the York-Adams Class AA doubles title. When Hanson graduated and went off to York College, Ferraro became Bullaj’s new doubles partner.

“Over last summer, we did doubles drills all the time,” Ferraro said. “Kaltrin’s a better player than me. He goes for his shots, and I just try to stay consistent.”

The game plan works perfectly for the Warriors’ duo. Bullaj looks for every opportunity to run around his forehand and crush a return. Ferraro remains consistent on the groundstrokes and displays a good touch at the net putting away volleys.

“They move well together on the court, and they’re friends off the court,” Susquehannock head coach Marianne Michels said. “I knew that Paige (York Catholic head coach Paige Mundy) has a good team, and I had a feeling there was going to be a doubles situation today (doubles deciding the match).”

Susquehannock carried the edge into doubles thanks to singles victories from Bullaj, Ferraro and Shane Bookhultz at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Bartkowiak and Tim Hartinger earned singles victories for York Catholic.

“Our No. 3 kid (Bookhultz), he made all the difference in the world,” Michels said. “He’s been a steady Eddie (model of consistency) all year for us. Plus he’s a left-hander, and a lot of people like to hit cross court, but that’s where he likes the ball to come (to his forehand).”

Susquehannock grabbed a piece of the division crown after losing its No. 2 and No. 3 players from last year’s team to graduation.

“Losing Zach and Jordan (Baublitz) really hurt,” Michels said. “To come back the way we did this year, I’m really proud of the kids.”

OTHER BOYS’ TENNIS

DALLASTOWN 7, DOVER 0: At Dallastown, the Wildcats won all five singles matches in straight sets to secure the York-Adams Division I victory. John Schmitt, Kyle Salaga, Payce Berridge, Nick Barley and Nick Jones each captured a singles victory for the Wildcats. Dallastown improved to 7-0 in the division and 12-1 overall. Dallastown clinched at least a share of the division crown. The Wildcats can win the outright crown with a win Monday vs. Central York at Dallastown.

SOUTH WESTERN 5, CENTRAL 2: At Hanover, the Mustangs captured four out of the five singles matches to capture the York-Adams Division I victory. Anthony Miserendino, Quin Meyer, Michael Fabrick and Ben Sentz each won a singles match for the Mustangs. For the Panthers, Chris Maderitz won a singles match. South Western improved to 6-1 in the division and 9-2 overall, while Central fell to 6-1 in the division and 7-3 overall.

NEW OXFORD 7, WEST YORK 0: At New Oxford, the Colonials captured all five singles matches in straight sets to secure the York-Adams Division I victory. Mike Gruver, Dwight Kessler, Joel Luckenbaugh, Alex Meckley and Joey Stiles each won a singles match for the Colonials.

RED LION 7, YORK COUNTRY DAY 0: At Red Lion, Sam Innerst, C.J. Weigle, Alec Gayrama, Chase McKnight and John Martin each captured a straight-set singles victory for the Lions.

– Reach Dick VanOlinda at dvanolinda@yorkdis patch.com.