S. ABINGTON TWP. \u2014 One player made a stunningly impressive debut, and another achieved a long-awaited goal.<\/p>\n
Abington Heights freshman Prayush Mallaiah and Wyoming Seminary senior Billy Hall completed dominant runs through their respective tournaments to claim gold medals and punch tickets to the PIAA Championships in Hershey.<\/p>\n
In a matchup of teammates, Mallaiah defeated Abington Heights junior William Arp, 6-1, 6-0, to remain undefeated and win the District 2 Class 3A title Friday afternoon at Birchwood Racquet Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I got out there and was really consistent,\u201d Mallaiah said. \u201cI was really aggressive with my shots with the forehand. I was really happy about that. For me, outside of the court we are teammates, but on the court we have to be opponents, and that\u2019s how you have to play it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A runner-up last season and a semifinalist in 2024 and 2023, Hall powered his way through the Class 2A field to win the District 2 title, beating Holy Cross\u2019 Alex Harrison, 6-0, 6-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty awesome,\u201d Hall said. \u201cObviously, I have been trying to win this for a couple of years, and I think all the support that I have had from the coaches and everyone has been a huge boost to help me to be able to break through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both players led their respective teams to District 2 titles just last week.<\/p>\n
In his first varsity season, Mallaiah came in with a high level of respect for his advanced game. Ranked No. 6 for his freshman class in Pennsylvania and No. 46 in the Middle Atlantic poll by tennisrecruiting.net, he stormed through the Lackawanna League, displaying his repertoire of skill, strategy and surprising power from his diminutive stature.<\/p>\n
He outmatched his first two opponents Friday, then defeated West Scranton\u2019s Matthew D\u2019Augostine, 6-0, 6-0, in the semifinals, before ending Arp\u2019s undefeated season in the final.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my first time, but I have played in a lot of tournaments, so I was getting used to playing with the nervousness,\u201d Mallaiah said.<\/p>\n
After his triumph, Mallaiah celebrated with his brother, Praneel Mallaiah, the winner of three District 2 Class 3A Singles Championships and last year\u2019s winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is nice to see him develop as a player since Day 1,\u201d Praneel said after watching from the observation deck. \u201cEvery day when we practiced together, I knew that he was one of the most competitive people I have ever seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am just happy to see him continue the legacy that we have as a family. He brings everything to the table, and he had no holes in his game today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arp, the runner-up last year and a semifinalist as a freshman, started his afternoon with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Wyoming Valley West\u2019s Gadgidas Reisinger, 6-1, 6-0. He lost only two games in his three victories in the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really happy, but it is always tough having to play your teammate,\u201d Arp said. \u201cHe is somebody who you are rooting for all season long. He played amazingly today. Obviously, his skill set was amazing, but his focus was incredible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that I played great in this match, but Prayush is just amazing. In the semifinal, I played well in that match, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Mallaiah, Hall played with poise and confidence. His snapping forehand and explosive service game were too much for his opponents throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n
He had two wins in straight sets Thursday, dropping only two games. Hall defeated Holy Cross\u2019 No. 2 singles player Ray Zhang, 6-3, 6-2, before earning the gold with his victory over Harrison.<\/p>\n
It was a rematch of the No. 1 singles clash during the District 2 team tournament. Hall led that match, 6-0, 4-1, before being halted once the team title was secured.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was serving pretty well, and also, how I was able to come into the net more and shorten the points was able to work,\u201d Hall said. \u201cI always prefer playing someone the second time as opposed to the first. I can see a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harrison, whose only loss this season before the tournament came against Mallaiah, earned his shot at Hall by beating Wyoming Seminary\u2019s No. 2 player, Dhruv Sudhaker, 6-4, 6-4. It was part of Harrison\u2019s three straight-set wins in the two days.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, I played well for the most part,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cI am proud of myself for being able to reach the finals this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
District 2 Singles Championships
\nClass 3A<\/p>\n
Semifinals<\/p>\n
1-Prayush Mallaiah (Abington Heights) over 5-Matthew D\u2019Augostine (West Scranton), 6-0, 6-0. 2-William Arp (Abington Heights) over 3-Gadgidas Reisinger (Wyoming Valley West), 6-1, 6-0.<\/p>\n
Final<\/p>\n
1-Mallaiah (Abington Heights) over 2-Arp, 6-1, 6-0.<\/p>\n
Class 2A<\/p>\n
Semifinals<\/p>\n
1-Billy Hall (Wyoming Seminary) over 4-Ray Zhang (Holy Cross), 6-3, 6-2. 2-Alex Harrison (Holy Cross) over 6-Dhruv Sudhaker (Wyoming Seminary), 6-4, 6-4.<\/p>\n
Final<\/p>\n
1-Hall (Wyoming Seminary) over 2-Harrison (Holy Cross), 6-0, 6-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S. ABINGTON TWP. \u2014 One player made a stunningly impressive debut, and another achieved a long-awaited goal. Abington…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-188091","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\/188091","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=188091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}