After claiming his first-ever District XI 3A Boys Tennis Singles Championship as a freshman, Chris Stone is looking for a repeat performance in his second season at Emmaus.
The Hornets sophomore begins his quest to defend his title from a year ago when the tournament gets underway this week at Lehigh University.
Play begins at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday with first round and quarterfinal round action. The tournament will continue at Noon on Thursday with the semifinals and finals.
Stone, the No. 4 seed, will compete in the event along with brother, Nick, a senior, who is the No. 6 seed. Both players will be on opposite ends of the 16-player bracket.
“Either one of them can win it if they play well,” said Emmaus coach Robert Dragotta.
A year ago as the No. 5 seed, Chris Stone went unbeaten in the tournament, defeating Matt Davis of Freedom (6-1, 6-0), Daniel Trott, the No. 4 seed from PME (5-7, 6-3, 6-2), Noah Rodburg, the No. 1 seed from Freedom (6-2, 6-4) before claiming gold with a straight set sweep over Nazareth’s Gideon Knowles (6-4, 6-3) in the finals.
In winning the title, he became the first Emmaus player to do so since Sean Jaeger won back-to-back championships in 2018 and 2019.
Stone will open up the tournament taking on Southern Lehigh’s Alexander Ahnert and, with a win, could potentially see both Trott and Rodburg again in the upper part of the bracket.
The elder Stone, Nick, who was the No. 3 seed a year ago, reached the semifinals before falling to Knowles in the semis 6-4, 6-3.
Stone will face Aarush Makwanna of Easton in the opening-round. A win will likely set up a rematch in the semis against Knowles. Parkland freshman Derek Yao, the No. 2 seed, is also a top challenger in the bottom part of the bracket.
Only the winner of District XI will advance to the PIAA State Tournament, which begins on Friday, May 23 in Hershey.
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