By Tom Robinson and Spencer Decker, NEPASportsNation.com
WILKES-BARRE – Jon Florencio gave Dallas its only singles point of the semifinals and its toughest victory of the final.
Florencio, the No. 3 singles player, was the only Mountaineer to win twice as they squeezed out a pair of 3-2 victories to remain unbeaten and repeat as District 2 Class 2A boys tennis team champions.
Dallas defeated Holy Cross, 3-2, in the final after getting past Scranton Prep in the semifinals. Holy Cross topped Wyoming Area in the other semifinal at Kirby Park, also by a 3-2 score.
Similar to its Wyoming Valley Conference title-clinching victory over Wyoming Area in last week’s regular-season finale, Dallas took a lead and watched a challenger tie the match while building momentum.
Last week, No. 2 doubles team Stephen Miller and Artem Smagin stopped that momentum.
This time, Florencio handled the duties with all the other matches over and both teams watching the No. 3 singles match to decide their fate.
After Holy Cross completed a doubles sweep to force the 2-2 tie, Christopher Martinez rallied from 5-3 down to get the second set into a tiebreaker and extend the Crusaders’ title hopes.
Florencio, who was already up a set, won the tiebreaker, 9-7, to settle the match.
Lucas Carver and Luca DeRome were the others in the singles sweep of the final.
Holy Cross swept doubles in each of its matches with the teams of Alex Harrison-Ray Zhang and Connor Straka-Owen Jumper. Harrison-Zhang gave the Crusaders a chance by overcoming a loss in the first set against Dallas.
Mihir Mukul-Kevin Basalyga and Miller-Smagin earned a pair of straight-set doubles wins for Dallas against Scranton Prep.
Akhilesh Velaga and Ethan Borick won for Scranton Prep at the first two singles positions.
David Huester, at No. 2 singles, gave Holy Cross its other point against Wyoming Area, which got wins from Luca Argenio and Dylan Stoss.
The championship was the third straight for Dallas and fourth in the last five tournaments in Class 2A.
DISTRICT 2 CLASS 2A BOYS TENNIS TEAM TOURNAMENT
Semifinals
Dallas 3, Scranton Prep 2
No. 1 singles: Akhilesh Velaga (Scranton Prep) over Lucas Carver (Dallas) 6-0, 6-1.
No. 2 singles: Ethan Borick (Scranton Prep) over Luca DeRome (Dallas) 6-2, 6-2.
No. 3 singles: Jon Florencio (Dallas) over David Geyfman (Scranton Prep) 6-1, 6-1
No. 1 doubles: Mihir Mukul-Kevin Basalyga (Dallas) over Guy Rothery-Dylan Tost (Scranton Prep) 6-3, 6-3.
No. 2 doubles: Stephen Miller-Artem Smagin (Dallas) over Ved Dave-Jackson Keating (Scranton Prep) 7-5, 6-0.
Holy Cross 3, Wyoming Area 2
No. 1 singles: Luca Argenio (WA) over Dhiraj Baniya (Holy Cross) 6-1, 6-2.
No. 2 singles: David Huester (Holy Cross) over Nick Winsock (WA) 6-2, 6-0.
No. 3 singles: Dylan Stoss (WA) over Christopher Martinez (Holy Cross) 6-3, 6-2.
No. 1 doubles: Alex Harrison-Ray Zhang (Holy Cross) over Gabe Cable-Braidon Kostick (WA) 6- 2, 6-2.
No. 2 doubles: Connor Straka-Owen Jumper (Holy Cross) over Eli Harding -Nick Cirelli (WA) 7- 5, 6-1.
Final
No. 1 singles: Lucas Carver (Dallas) over Dhiraj Baniya (Holy Cross) 6-2, 6-0.
No. 2 singles: Luca DeRome (Dallas) over David Huester (Holy Cross) 6-1, 6-2.
No. 3 singles: Jon Florencio (Dallas) over Christopher Martinez (Holy Cross) 6-4, 7-6 (9-7).
No. 1 doubles: Alex Harrison-Ray Zhang (Holy Cross) over Mihir Mukul-Kevin Basalyga (Dallas) 2-6, 6-0, 7-5.
No. 2 doubles: Connor Straka-Owen Jumper (Holy Cross) over Stephen Miller-Artem Smagin (Dallas) 6-1, 6-2.
