Tough day for YAIAA tennis players at District 3 singles tourney
HERSHEY >> Dallastown's John Schmitt was the lone YAIAA tennis player to make it out of the first round of the District 3 singles tournament on what proved to be a rough day for the conference.
Schmitt started Saturday's proceedings at Hershey Racquet Club strongly. He carried the York-Adams banner into the Class AAA quarterfinals by virtue of his first-round, 6-4, 6-2, win over Manheim Township's Jack Fowler.
"I was serving really well," Schmitt said. "And the serve was really key for me. He's (Fowler) really good."
But the ax fell with a 6-3, 6-1 loss to Red Land's Peter Landis in the quarterfinals later in the day. Five other locals all lost their first-round matches, closing the books on the league's singles season.
Landis, who burst upon the scene at Red Land as a freshman in 2012, displayed versatile game and closed out several points at the net in serve-and-volley fashion, a dying art in an age of slugging baseliners.
"He was just too good," Schmitt, a senior, admitted. "He came into the net a lot and hit really well. It's not something I see a lot."
Landis beat Central Dauphin's Aiden Henken, 6-1, 6-4, in the first round to set up the quarterfinal meeting with Schmitt.
The first set was a competitive one, with Landis leading 3-2 after five games, until Red Land's ace located his net game.
"Well, I couldn't volley that well in the beginning," Landis said. "I couldn't hit them that well, while he was hitting his big forehand, which was big and powerful. And I was surprised by it. And that's what's kept it close."
Schmitt closed his high school singles career with three consecutive appearances in the district playoffs.
In other AAA action, Red Lion's Sam Innerst had the misfortune of drawing the No. 2-seeded Cedar Crest's Colin Muraika, in his first-round match. Innerst fell to the Lebanon County champ, 6-1, 6-4. Ben Sentz of South Western drew another tough opponent in Cumberland Valley's Milo Nagle and suffered a 6-1, 6-2 defeat.
In Class AA, York Suburban's Elliot Diehl was defeated by Boiling Springs' P.J. Greenbaum by a 6-1, 6-3 count. The York Catholic duo of Michael Andrews and Nick Bartkowiak also lost. Andrews dropped a 6-0, 6-0 decision to Elco's No. 2, Galen McNaughton, 6-0, 6-0. Bartkowiak suffered the same score fate to the bracket's second-seed, Will Wanner of Lancaster Mennonite.
When the smoke cleared Saturday evening at HRC, the remaining field for Monday's semifinals looked like this: Wanner will take on top-seeded Blaise Casselbury of Lancaster Country Day, while Eclo's Adam Bahney and defending state champ Andre Fick of Wyomissing collide in AA. The AAA bracket will feature top-seeded Derek Hagino of Hempfield against Exeter's Jonah Buczewski, while Landis will oppose Muraika.