LOCAL ROUNDUP: Abington Heights tops Crestwood for D2 Class 3A tennis title
May 8—As the clock ticked down toward the start time for the District 2 Class 3A Team Tennis final, Abington Heights hadn't returned from lunch yet.
Event director Mike Ognosky started to look around the Kirby Park complex.
The Comets arrived with time to spare, then focused on the goal of winning the title.
A title they won convincingly.
Sam Christman and Adam Vale won their singles matches in straight sets and the doubles team of Luke Morgan‐Quinn Hamilton earned wins to spark top-seeded Abington Heights to a 3-0 win over No. 2 Crestwood on Thursday afternoon at Kirby Park.
The Comets (15-1) won their eighth-straight title and advanced to the PIAA playoffs to face the third-place team from District 3 on May 18.
"We were almost late," said Christman, who along with his teammates went to a nearby eatery during the break between Abington Heights' 3-0 win over Delaware Valley in the semifinals and the title match.
"We had a really good first match and then we went to lunch. That was a really great time to relax and get our minds re-focused on the championship match. We were ready."
The straight-sets wins by the Comets halted the match and brought to a close a 3-0 tournament where they lost only one match.
After Morgan and Hamilton put away Ryan Kostiuk‐Brayden Fenwick, 6-0, 6-2, Vale gave the Comets a boost with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Kurt Grenzberg at No. 3 singles.
"We were definitely ready to play and were super motivated," Vale said. "We worked hard the whole week leading up to this match. We are so happy that everything paid off.
"In my match, I was just trying to take everything one point, one game and one set at a time and try to make as few errors as possible."
Christman sealed the overall victory with a win over Julien Lacoste, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.
"We knew after our Scranton Prep match that we lost, that we would have to play much better than we did all season," Christman said. "I thought we did that. Playing the way we did all day was amazing."
Crestwood advanced to the championship match after beating Berwick 4-1 in the quarterfinals and North Pocono 3-1 in the semis.
In Class AA, Wyoming Valley Conference champion-Dallas blanked Dunmore 3-0 in the district semifinals and Scranton Prep 3-0 in the title match.
The district singles tournament will get under way Tuesday with the first three rounds, Class 3A at North Pocono and Class AA at Kirby Park. Play was supposed to begin Saturday, but switched becasue of the weather forecast
H.S. Girls' Lacrosse Hazleton Area 14 Tunkhannock 3
Riley Hudock scored a game-high nine goals in the visiting Lady Cougars' win over Tunkhannock on Thursday.
Kaci Kilker netted four goals and had three assists and Emily Sonntag added one goal for the locals, while goalie Abby Bellas had one save. Lily Palfey (three) and Meg Drennan (one) teamed for four assists.
Becca Fick scored two goals for the Tigers, while Emma Mock added one and Emalyn Westfield registered 19 saves between the pipes.
The Lady Cougars kept Tunkhannock scoreless until the 18-minute mark of the second half on the way to their second straight win.
H.S. Boys' Volleyball Tunkhannock 3 Hazleton Area 0
Cristian Posada had six service points with three aces and seven kills for the Cougars in their loss to Tunkhannock (18-25, 17-25, 18-25) on Thursday.
Connor Wolfe added eight assists, two digs, one kill, two blocks and three service points for the Cougars, while Elijah Belles totaled three kills, three blocks, and four digs.
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