Expand<\/a><\/p>\nNEWTON TWP. \u2014 Abington Heights is a tennis juggernaut and has dominated the Lackawanna League for the last five years.<\/p>\n
The players elevate their play and, with each challenge, continue to impress.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday afternoon at the Abington Heights Middle School Tennis Courts, the Comets battled Holy Cross in a showdown of the two top teams this spring. Both entered the showdown undefeated, with their singles lineup also perfect in their matches.<\/p>\n
Prayush Mallaiah, William Arp and Brady Comstock powered past the Crusaders, 5-0, for the program\u2019s 62nd straight league win. Abington Heights clinched a tie for the championship with a match remaining against North Pocono next week, ahead of the start of the District 2 Class 3A championship.<\/p>\n
Abington Heights has won all 10 matches by shutout.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
He may be only a freshman, but Mallaiah plays like a seasoned varsity veteran.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because he is ranked sixth in the state for the Class of 2029 and is a three-star prospect by tennisrecruiting.net. Facing Holy Cross\u2019 Alex Harrison, an All-Region player from last season and the undefeated No. 1 singles standout, Mallaiah used some strategic returns to earn a win in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I played decent today,\u201d Mallaiah said. \u201cI played my game. I started this season a little rocky and wasn\u2019t confident in my shots, but I have been practicing hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last weekend, Mallaiah won a USTA Level 4 tournament in Pittsburgh, strengthening his state ranking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose events are against really high-level players,\u201d Mallaiah said. \u201cThose give me an elevated sense of play. I played well. I was keeping the ball on the court and not missing, while making my opponents misfire on shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abington Heights junior William Arp, a two-time All-Region player, stormed out to a one-set advantage over Ray Zhang at No. 2 singles, 6-0. The two unbeatens fought back and forth, trading winners. Zhang held a pair of leads before Arp returned to his aggressive approach of the first set and earned a 6-4 win to improve to 10-0 this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal in the first set was to come out strong,\u201d said Arp, who has a career record of 39-5. \u201cI thought that once I had the first set, it helped me get through some of the tough times in the second set. I had a rough patch where I wasn\u2019t executing. I took a couple of deep breaths and got back to doing what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brady Comstock is a towering force at No. 3 singles for the Comets. An All-Region player and District 2 champion in doubles last season, the son of coach Art Comstock displayed a powerful serve in his battle with Alfred Betts, who was undefeated this season, 6-3, 6-2.<\/p>\n
Comstock showed that he has adapted to the different approach needed for singles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like when I was aggressive, I played well,\u201d said Comstock, who moved his record to 9-0. \u201cHe is a more consistent player and gets a lot of balls back. When I wasn\u2019t aggressive, I struggled. Singles is a different game. It is tougher on my body, and there is more strategy to it. But I do use some of my skills from doubles by getting to the net.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abington Heights swept the doubles matches.<\/p>\n
Liam Farrell, a District 2 Class 3A champion with Brady Comstock last season, and his new partner, Bryce Comstock, defeated Dwalkyr Baniya and Guiseppe Pilone, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 1 doubles.<\/p>\n
Singles:\u00a0Mallaiah (AH) over Harrison, 6-0, 6-1. Arp (AH) over Zhang, 6-0, 6-4. Bra. Comstock (AH) over Betts, 6-3, 6-2;\u00a0Doubles:\u00a0Farrell-Bry. Comstock (AH) over Baniya-Pilone, 6-0, 6-0. Goldberg-Meyer (AH) over Gilory-Musto, 6-0, 6-1;\u00a0Records:\u00a0AH 10-0, HC 9-1.<\/p>\n
Valley View 3, Dunmore 2:\u00a0At Valley View, Kevin Dougher fell behind 5-0, then rallied for a 7-5 win that helped lift the Cougars to a win in the Lackawanna League.<\/p>\n
Nick Burak had a win at No. 1 singles, and the No. 1 doubles team of Kevin O\u2019Shea and Cooper Rawlings had a win for Valley View.<\/p>\n
Singles:\u00a0Burak (VV) over Aviles, 6-2, 6-3. Oprisko (DUN) over Giovagnoli, 7-5, 6-4. Dougher (VV) over Bautista, 6-2, 7-5;\u00a0Doubles:\u00a0O\u2019Shea-Rawlings (VV) over Grande-Haynes, 6-3, 6-1. Sottile-Michalczyk (DUN) over Kissell-Badock, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (10);\u00a0Records:\u00a0VV 8-2, DUN 7-4.<\/p>\n
North Pocono 3, Scranton Prep 2:\u00a0At North Pocono, Billy Barker and Xavier Barker had wins at No. 1 and No. 3 singles for the Trojans.<\/p>\n
North Pocono\u2019s No. 2 doubles team of Mason Bianchi and Michael Mecca also had a win.<\/p>\n
Paulie Dominick and the doubles team of Keelin Kirby and Myles Frieder had wins for Scranton Prep.<\/p>\n
Singles: B. Barker (NP) over Cohen, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Dominick (SP) over Kowalski, 6-0, 6-0. X. Barker (NP) over Delayo, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2;\u00a0Doubles:\u00a0Kirby-Frieder (SP) over Bellefontaine-Maughan, 6-4, 6-0. Bianchi-Mecca (NP) over O\u2019Boyle-Smith, 6-4, 6-0;\u00a0Records:\u00a0NP 4-4, SP 4-7.<\/p>\n
Mid Valley 5, Wallenpaupack 0:\u00a0At Mid Valley, Carson Beck, Gabe James and Zach Kalinowski each won their singles matches in straight sets, leading the Spartans to a win.<\/p>\n
Singles:\u00a0Beck (MV) over Busso, 6-2, 6-4. James (MV) over Hathaway, 6-0, 6-0. Kalinowski (MV) over Bell, 6-1, 6-0;\u00a0Doubles:\u00a0Schuler-Harrington (MV) over Mann-Marchesin, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Evan Johnson-Henderson (MV) by forfeit;\u00a0Records:\u00a0MV 5-6, WAL 0-11.<\/p>\n
Boys lacrosse<\/p>\n
At Dallas, Will McPartland and Jack Rully each scored four goals as Scranton Prep stayed undefeated with a 20-4 win in a Wyoming Valley Conference match.<\/p>\n
Owen McPartland, Mackey Lynett, Roman Lowe, and Braedon McPartland each scored two goals for the Cavaliers (8-0), who will play at Abington Heights on Friday at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
SP goals:\u00a0W. McPartland 4, Rully 4, O. McPartland 2, M. Lynett 2, B. McPartland 2, Lowe 2, Rinaldi 1, James 1, McGrath 1, Dempsey 1; Assists: M. Lynett 2, Rully 2, O. McPartland 1, W. McPartland 1, B. McPartland 1, Cordero, Cullen, McGrath 1, T. Lynett 1;\u00a0Saves:\u00a0Black 2.<\/p>\n
DAL goals: Dalessandro 2, Hivish 1, Ricardo 1;\u00a0Assists: Hivish, Chopyak 1; Saves: Bransford 18.<\/p>\n
Kingston (N.Y.) 14, Delaware Valley 12: At Delaware Valley, Chase Noble and Joe Sepesi each scored five goals to lead Kingston, New York, to a nonleague win.<\/p>\n
Chris Devaney, Mike Iuzzolino, and Phil Leslie led Delaware Valley with three goals each.<\/p>\n
DV goals: Devaney 3, Iuzzolino 3, Leslie 3, Myers 2, McGarvey 1;\u00a0Assists: Devaney 3, McGarvey 2, Myers 1, Husejnovic 1, Iuzzolino 1; Saves:\u00a0Smith 13.<\/p>\n
KING goals: Noble 5, Sepesi 5, Mayer 2, Cafaldo 1, Gruner 1;\u00a0Assists: Cafaldo 2, Ricketson 2, Noble 1, Mayer 1, Gruner 1, Boughton 1; Goalies:\u00a0Naccarato 6.<\/p>\n
Boys volleyball<\/p>\n
At Delaware Valley, Harrison Bixby had 13 kills, Chase Peereboom added 11 kills and Christian Sell had 29 assists for Delaware Valley in a 3-1 loss to undefeated Crestwood in the Wyoming Valley Conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Holy Cross\u2019 Ray Zhang hits the ball during the tennis match at Abington Heights Middle School in Clarks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-173598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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