With the rest of Saturday’s District 3-AA boys' singles matches complete, all eyes turned to the battle between Elco’s Adam Bahney and third-seeded Rodrigo Saad of Wyomissing.
This time, the pressure of the moment was no problem for Bahney.
The junior came out of the gates flying in his second-round match, then survived a tension-filled tiebreak to oust the animated Saad 6-2 7-6(4). With the win, Bahney breaks through to Monday’s semifinals after losing in the quarterfinals each of the last two years, including to Saad’s older brother in 2012.
“Really, just training months for this, all the hours I put in. I did what I came out to do and I played really well,” the Raider said, gratification obvious in his voice.
Bahney kept his opponent on his back foot with his serve-and-volley style throughout the first set, but the second was on a razor’s edge. The players traded service games until the tiebreak, when Bahney fought hard for a 5-2 lead and held on to close out the match.
When Saad’s final shot drifted long, Bahney let out an exuberant yell as his competitor kicked the back wall in frustration; in that moment, it was clear how much the match meant to both players.
“It feels really good,” Bahney said of his win. “I’ve worked my entire life to get to this point, so let’s see if I can keep going.”
As a reward for his efforts, Bahney will face Saad’s Wyomissing teammate, second-seeded Andre Fick. Fick was dominant in his first two matches, beating Scott Bartkowiak and Bahney’s teammate, Galen McNaughton, without dropping a game.
The other semifinal will be contested by two Lancaster Country Day School teammates, top seed Blaise Casselbury and Sebastian Pena. Both players were straight-set winners in their first two matches on Saturday.
As was the case in AAA, the day was unkind to AA competitors from the Mid-Penn Conference. Erik Etter and Logan Gouse of East Pennsboro were first-round victims of Casselbury and Pena. Although he played extremely well, hard-hitting MPC champion P.J. Greenbaum of Boiling Springs was eliminated in his opener by Saad 6-4 6-2.
Despite the loss Greenbaum, a junior, was satisfied with how he competed and was optimistic for his senior season. “It was a good match. I played well … left a couple of games out there, but I’m happy with how I played. If my improvement in the last year is anything to go by, it should be a lot better next year.”
Semifinal and final action will take place at the Hershey Racquet Club beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Monday.