Red Land’s Ben Kunkel and Peter Landis lived up to their billing as the top-seeded doubles tandem in AAA at the District 3 tournament at Hershey Racquet Club on Friday.
Kunkel, the senior, and sophomore Landis went through to Saturday’s semifinals with a pair of victories on Friday: A 6-1, 6-2 win over Dallastown’s Kyle Salaga and Mike Gibbs in the opener, followed by a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Cedar Crest’s Colin Muriaka and Nick Tull in the quarterfinals.
Kunkel and Landis draw Exeter’s Jonah Buczewski and Ryan Lessig in the AAA semifinals, which begin at 1 p.m. Saturday back at HRC. Exeter’s pair handed Lower Dauphin’s Nathan Carl and Todd Espenshade a 6-2, 6-1 defeat in their first-round matchup.
“I was pretty confident Peter could hang with anybody at the start of the season,” Kunkel said of his partner. “When he sees me loosen up, he feels more comfortable. It starts with me. When I’m playing tough, he sees that and picks up on that.”
“I’m just glad that we could come through and show everybody that we’re for real.”
District 3-AAA doubles bracket
Hempfield and Manheim Central will clash in the other AAA doubles semifinal.
The Black Knights’ Tommy Athey and Nate Martinez ran into a tussle in their quarterfinal match with Mechanicsburg’s Josh Ringquist and Andrew Baer – the Wildcats duo took the first set in a tiebreak, 7-5, and hung tough in the second before dropping a 6-4 verdict. The third set went Hempfield’s way to the tune of 6-1.
Barons Josh Kaiser and Colin Wolgemuth ended the season for Cumberland Valley’s Ethan Lynn and Milo Nagle – in Lynn’s case, his high school career – with a 6-4, 6-4 first-round win.
Lynn won’t be back, but the promising 15-year-old Nagle will. He did not taste defeat until Friday and ended his freshman campaign unbeaten at No. 3 singles for the Eagles.
“I was happy to get three-singles as a freshman,” Nagle said. “I wasn’t really expecting to do as well as I did, with an undefeated season [at No. 3 singles]. … The thing that got me through was a good mental game, to get through all the three-setters.”
Elbert Mets and Ben Wagner of the hometown Hershey Trojans suffered a 6-4, 6-2 first-round loss to Cedar Crest’s Muriaka and Tull.
Mets and Wagner battled back from 1-4 in the first set to tie it but then lost the set at the service line with a slew of double-faults. The setback caps Mets’ high school career. He is headed to Cornell in the fall.
AA
Elco’s Adam Bahney and Galen McNaughton rolled into the AA semifinals with wins over East Pennsboro’s Erik Etter and Matt Price 6-1, 6-1 and the Berks Catholic tandem of Aydan Balachi and Ross Pilliod 1-6, 6-0, 6-4.
The Raiders get Donegal’s Eric Ebersole and Andrew Hollinger in Saturday’s AA semifinal. The Indians’ pairing survived a three-set marathon against Wyomissing’s second-seeded Rodrigo Saad and Dan Trifoli 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5).
Camp Hill’s Paxton Fitzpatrick and Patrick Yang won their opening round match versus Fleetwood’s Christian Boyer and Tom Paganelli 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-2 before falling in the quarters to Diego Pinto and Bryce Pinkerton of Brandywine Heights 6-2, 6-2. The Lions escaped some inconsistent play against the Fleetwood duo but could not do the same against the Bullets.
James Buchanan’s Garret Malanka and Grant Strawoet made school history Friday by becoming the first Rockets’ doubles pairing to ever escape the first round at districts when they beat Caleb Harnish and Geoffrey Scott of Lancaster Mennonite 6-2, 7-5. Their day ended in the quarters against top-seeded Spencer Rhoads and Wes Davis of Lancaster Country Day 6-2, 6-2.
“Being the first doubles team to move on from the first round is a great accomplishment,” Malanka said. “I’m happy with our group of guys. We’ve made a lot of history. It’s good to have our names up there.”
The D-3 semifinals and finals -- as well as the PIAA-berth third-place matches -- will be contested Saturday at HRC starting at 1 p.m.