Emmaus teammates Chris Stone and Cole Stuchko will be amongst 16 players vying to win the District XI Class 3A Singles Tennis championship.
The tournament gets underway at 11:30 a.m. on Monday at Freedom High School with first round and quarterfinal round matchups. It will wrap up on Wednesday with the semifinals at 11:30 a.m. followed by the finals.
Stone, a junior and the Hornets No. 1 singles player, is the No. 2 seed and will be looking to win his second singles championship in the last three years. Back in the 2023-24 season, he defeated Nazareth’s Gideon Knowles in straight sets (6-4, 6-3) to claim his first-ever title.
A year ago as the No. 4 seed, Stone reached the semifinals but was unable to defend his championship after falling to top-seeded Noah Rodburg of Freedom 7-6 (9-7), 6-0.
Stone will open up the tournament facing Stroudsburg’s Mason Ulmer, who he has already defeated once this season, 6-2 and 6-2. A win would likely mean a quarterfinal round matchup vs Liberty’s Erik Peterson, the No. 7 seed. Stone’s toughest challenger should he reach the semifinals would be Nazareth’s Vansh Singhal, the No. 3 seed. The two met just 10 days ago in the regular-season with Stone winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-0. Singhal, however, got revenge in last week’s EPC Tournament upsetting Stone in the semifinals.
Stuchko, a senior, will be appearing in the tournament for the first time.
As the Hornets No. 3 singles player, Stuchko will have a first round matchup against the No. 5 seed and Easton’s top player in Aarush Makwana. Should he advance, he would likely face the No. 4 seed in Manav Patel of Parkland.
The No. 1 overall seed in the tournament is defending champion sophomore Derek Yao of Parkland. Yao, who also won the No. 1 singles title at last week’s EPC Tournament, defeated Rodburg in straight sets in the finals a year ago 6-4, 6-2.
Only the champion of District XI will advance to the PIAA State Tournament, which begins on Friday, May 22 at the Hershey Racquet Club.
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District XI 3A Singles Tournament (Monday, April 20 @ Freedom HS)
#1 Derek Yao (Park) vs Logan Ritter (Free)
#9 Alexander Ahnert (SL) vs #8 Nick Ressler (Ea)
#5 Aarush Makwanna (Ea) vs Cole Stuchko (Em)
#4 Manav Patel (Park) vs Oscar Avila (Free)
#3 Vansh Singhal (Naz) vs Liam Bulman (Lib)
#6 Luke D’Angelo (Lib) vs Jacky Zhang (Park)
#7 Erik Peterson (Lib) vs Lorinc Von Platen (Naz)
#2 Chris Stone (Em) vs Mason Ulmer (Sburg)