ALTOONA — Both of State College’s entries in the District 6 Class 3A boys’ singles tennis tournament were sent to the sidelines by the eventual finalists.
Mark Sandow was eliminated by defending champion David Lindsey of Central Mountain, 6-2, 6-0, in the semifinals on Tuesday, April 26 at the Herb Faris Tennis Courts at Mansion Park. Matt Labosky was knocked out a round earlier by second-seeded Nathanial Barton of Hollidaysburg, 6-1, 6-0.
Both Little Lions won at least one match.
“Mark and Matt played well today but clearly their opponents in the quarterfinal and semis were better players,” State College coach Jane Borden said. “Mark played two excellent matches to get to the semis. Impressive for a freshman.”
Sandow actually entered the tournament seeded fourth. In the first round, he dispatched Williamsport’s Shreshth Singh without losing a game.
Next, Sandow turned by Hollidaysburg veteran Ben Johnson, 6-3, 6-1, to earn a spot in the semifinals across the net from the No. 1 seed.
“Mark played two excellent matches to get to the semis. Impressive for a freshman,” Borden said.
Labosky notched a 6-0, 6-2 victory against Selinsgrove’s Jack Weaver in the opening round before falling to Barton.
The Little Lions raised their dual-meet record to 11-2 mark on Friday, April 22 with a 5-0 victory against visiting Red Land. It might have been their last dual meet of the season; they’re endeavoring to find a make-up date for a match with Mercersburg Academy that was postponed.
Sandow had the most dominating win in singles, putting away Billy Carlisle, 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 2 match. Luke Shaha and David Chong beat Corbin Hutchison and Nathan Zoami and Peter Novikov and Zemu Zhang beat Bright Pearson and Josh Albert by the same score in the doubles contests.
Labosky dispatched Nick Petrides, 6-1, 6-2, in the No. 1 singles match. No. 3 Daniel Xu turned back Tyler Close, 6-1, 6-1.
