Abington Heights continued its dominant run through District 2 tennis this season, as both of the program's doubles teams advanced to the Class 3A semifinals on Wednesday.
Top-seeded William Arp and Liam Farrell will face No. 5 Sean Rooney and Spencer Young of Crestwood, while the Comstock brothers—Brady and Bryce, seeded second—will take on Valley View's Nick Burak and Billy Giovagnoli. Both semifinal matches promise high-stakes action, with Abington Heights looking to sweep the competition.
In Class 2A, Holy Cross' top-seeded duo of Alex Harrison and Ray Zhang also punched their ticket to the semifinals. They'll face Frank Klimovitz and Daniel Dudrick of Holy Redeemer, while Wyoming Seminary's Stefan Zecar and Dhru Sudhakar will battle Dallas' Nate Linnen and Theo Barr, the No. 6 seed.
The road to the semifinals was nothing short of impressive. Arp and Farrell steamrolled through their matches at Wilkes University, dropping just one game total. They defeated Delaware Valley's Ben Krules and Koi Desandis 6-1, 6-0, then blanked Wilkes-Barre Area's Robert Fuentes and Josiah Angel 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
The Comstock brothers were equally relentless, posting two straight shutouts before a near-perfect quarterfinal win. They dispatched Delaware Valley's Eli Wilson and Jackson Hazard 6-0, 6-0, then took down Scranton's Veer Patel and Yax Patel 6-0, 6-1.
Crestwood's Rooney and Young earned their semifinal spot the hard way, surviving a grueling three-setter against Valley View's Kevin O'Shea and Cooper Rawlings (6-4, 4-6, 9-7) before outlasting West Scranton's No. 4 seed Matthew D'Augostine and Aaron Castro in another marathon (6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-1).
Valley View's Burak and Giovagnoli, the team's top singles players, cruised past Crestwood's Jacob Graybel and Hayden Harrison 6-0, 6-0, then upset No. 6 seed Gadgidas Reisinger and Jake Gluchowski of Wyoming Valley West 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
Over in Class 2A at Kirby Park, Holy Cross' Harrison and Zhang—both semifinalists in the District 2 Singles Tournament—rolled past Mid Valley's Zach Kalinowski and Ethan Johnson 6-0, 6-0 before dispatching Scranton Prep's Matthew Cohen and Paul Dominick 6-0, 6-2.
Holy Redeemer's Klimovitz and Dudrick had the toughest road, winning three matches to reach the semis. After a 6-2, 6-3 first-round win over MMI Prep's Joe Mayernick and Sharan Parikh, they upset No. 5 seed James Bobeck and Thomas Hill of Wyoming Seminary 6-3, 7-5, then knocked off fourth-seeded Lewis Smith and Michael Reiprich of Honesdale 6-4, 6-4.
All semifinal matches are set for Thursday at noon at the Birchwood Racquet Club, where the quest for district titles continues.