Locals fare well at L-L, Mid-Penn tennis
There are four tennis players who still have a chance to win the Lancaster-Lebanon League Flight 1 AAA singles title. Half of them are from Cedar Crest.
Falcons Jack Muraika and Dylan Tull secured singles semifinal berths on Thursday during the first day of the L-L Individual Flight tourney at Conestoga Valley.
Top-seeded Muraika lost just three games in two matches en route to the semis, knocking off Andy Wang of Conestoga Valley, 6-1, 6-0 in the first round before topping Manheim Central's Andrew Bookman 6-1, 6-1 in the second round.
The third-seeded Tull, meanwhile, enjoyed an even smoother road to the semis, rolling over Lebanon's Luke Foster 6-0, 6-0 in the first round, then taking care of Tom Chairs of Manheim Township 6-1, 6-0 to grab his semifinal spot.
And in the Flight 1 AA singles draw, Elco's Mason Bennetch maintains championship hopes after snaring a semifinal spot of his own courtesy of a first round bye and a 6-1, 6-3 second round defeat of Lancaster Catholic's Danny Bomberger,
Muraika will face Jake Curtin of Hempfield in Saturday's semis at CV, while Tull will take on No.2 seed Jack Hessinger of Hempfield.
Bennetch, the No. 3 seed, will take on No. 2 seed Joseph Jing of Lancaster Mennonite in the AA semis.
Also on Thursday, 6 Lebanon County teams advanced to the second round of doubles. Tull and Muraika (Flight 1 AAA), Bennetch and Dylan Spitler (Flight 1 AA), Annville-Cleona's William Klatchko and Koy Alwine (Flight 1 AA), Elco's Dawson Smith and Adam Omar (Flight 2), Cedar Crest's Tim Cheng and Ryan Knapp (Flight 3), and Ryan Woelfling and Cameron Wolgemuth of Elco (Flight 3) all either won their first round match or advanced via byes.
Mid-Penn Tournament
Palmyra freshman Ben Clary enjoyed a big day in his first Mid-Penn tourney experience Thursday, advancing to the AAA singles semifinals while losing just one game in 2 matches.
Clary, the top seed, rolled over Ben Bright of Mechanicsburg 6-0, 6-0 in the first round, then topped Nate Breon of Northern 6-1, 6-0 in the second to earn a spot in Friday's semifinal round. He'll face No. 4 seed of Evan Hine of Waynesboro for a berth in Monday's championship match at Central Dauphin East.
Also on Thursday, Palmyra's Quinn Marcus advanced to the Flight 2 singles semis, and Clary and Marcus and Brendan Byler and Evan Yost each advanced to the second round of their respective doubles flights.