The first day of postseason competition this spring in District 2 sports went according to form.
Higher seeds went 7-0, winning on their home courts, led by dominant performances by unbeaten top seeds Dallas and Abington Heights, as the district boys tennis team tournament got underway with Class 3A and 2A quarterfinals.
Wyoming Valley Conference champion Dallas, the No. 1 team in the Riverfront Sports Elite Eight Boys Tennis Power Rankings of District 2 teams, downed Honesdale, 5-0, without allowing more than two games to be won in any set in their Class 2A match.
Lackawanna League champion Abington Heights, the second-ranked team in the Elite Eight, lost just 1 game in 10 sets during its 5-0 win over West Scranton in Class 3A.
North Pocono and Scranton, in Class 3A, along with Valley View, Scranton Prep and Wyoming Seminary, in Class 2A, also advanced to the semifinals where the tournament turns to neutral courts. The semifinals and finals are both scheduled for Wednesday at Kirby Park.
One quarterfinal, sixth-seeded Wallenpaupack at third-seeded Delaware Valley, was postponed from Monday to Tuesday.
Kyle Chesman led defending champion Dallas with a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles.
Tucker Chesman, at second singles, and Jason Joshi-Luca DeRome, at first doubles, each won, 6-1, 6-0.
Third singles player Lucas Carver and second doubles team Mihur Mukul-Jon Florencio each dropped just two games in their victories.
The Abington Heights victory over West Scranton was even more overwhelming.
The Comets began pursuit of a ninth straight district title – the sport was not contested in 2020 because of COVID – with four 6-0, 6-0 sweeps.
Praneel Mullaiah and Sam Christman won the top two singles spots while Luke Morgan-Ryan Salony and Gavin Ross-Connor Clearwater won doubles without giving up a game.
Domenic Peters won, 6-1, 6-0, at third singles.
The Class 2A bracket is deeper with the top two teams in the WVC and the second- and third-place teams from the Lackawanna League making up the semifinals.
Dallas (10-0) will meet Wyoming Seminary (8-2) while Valley View (13-1) takes on Scranton Prep (12-2) in Wednesday’s 11:30 a.m. semifinals at Kirby Park.
Abington Heights (14-0) meets North Pocono (8-6) in one Class 3A semifinal at 1 p.m.
The other semifinal has Scranton (11-3) facing either Delaware Valley (9-4) or Wallenpaupack (5-8).
Valley View and Wyoming Seminary advanced in Class 2A with 5-0 shutouts of Holy Redeemer and Wyoming Area.
Wyoming Seminary stopped Wyoming Area’s four-game winning streak in the match between the fourth and fifth seeds.
Vaughn Kutish and Jeremy Han, at first and third singles, finished strong for 6-2, 6-0 wins. No. 2 doubles team Parker Mosley-Will Snowdon won, 6-0, 6-2.
Yicheng Li and Marco Magnotta-Ryan Chun provided the other points. Wyoming Area’s Gabe Cable-Braiden Kostik took Magnotta-Chun to a tiebreaker in the second set.
Scranton Prep defeated MMI Prep, 4-1.
Scranton defeated Crestwood, 4-1, and North Pocono topped Wilkes-Barre Area, 3-1, in the other Class 3A matches.
