It’s been since the 2004 season that the Emmaus boys tennis team last celebrated winning a District XI Class 3A team championship.
On Thursday afternoon, the Hornets will have an opportunity to win their second title in the last 20 years.
Facing their arch-rival and longtime nemisis Parkland on their home court in Tuesday’s semifinals, head coach Fred Saab’s No.3 seeded squad pulled off arguably their biggest win of the season by stunning the No.2 Trojans 3-2 and avenging for an earlier-season 4-2 loss.
“It was an incredible team win over a tough opponent,” said Saab. “I am proud of the boys for their will to win and perseverance.”
Emmaus (17-3 overall) swept all three singles matches to clinch the victory and advance to Thursday’s championship at 2 p.m. at Lehigh University where they will face the two-time defending champs, undefeated and top-seeded Liberty, which defeated fifth-seeded Nazareth 5-0 in the other semifinal.
With already atoning for one of their three losses on the season, the Hornets will look to do it again on the biggest stage facing the Hurriance who swept Emmaus in straight sets 6-0 way back in the season-opener on March 11. The winner will advance to the PIAA Class 3A State Tournament, which gets underway on Tuesday, May 14 vs the fourth-place entry from District One.
In the win over Parkland, all three singles players picked up victories with No.2 singles and newly-crowned EPC champion freshman Chris Stone rolling to straight set wins over Kevin Yao 6-0 and 6-0, and brother junior Nick, No.1, and freshman Caleb Brown, No.3, both winning in three sets.
Emmaus had advanced to the semis with their 3-1 quarterfinal round win over Northampton on Monday at home.
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Emmaus 3, Parkland 2 (Semis @ Parkland)
Singles:
No.1 – Nick Stone (E) def. Manav Patel (P), 2-6, 6-1, 6-0
No.2 – Chris Stone (E) def. Kevin Yao (P) 6-0, 6-0
No.3 – Caleb Brown (E) def. Tommy Gilchrist (P) 6-0, 3-6, 6-2
Doubles
No.1 – Ojas Karandikar & Yechan Cho (P) def. Ben Fletcher & Quinn Durkin (E) 6-0, 6-3
No.2 – Ryan Wu & Matt Ringold (P) def. Ayden Kegley & Caleb Brasher (E) 6-3, 6-1
Emmaus 3, Northampton 1 (Quarters @ Emmaus)
Singles:
No.1 – Nick Stone (E) def. Dane Missmer (N) 6-1, 6-0
No.2 – Chris Stone (E) def Nick Reichel (N) 6-0, 6-0
No.3 – Joe Tomaro (N) def. Caleb Brasher (E) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles:
No.1 – Ben Fletcher & Quinn Durkin (E) def. Brett Bastian & Mike Disante (N) 6-7 (7-2), 6-4, 7-6 (7-0)