New award honors WPIAL tennis players for exceptional sportsmanship

By: Ray Fisher
Saturday, May 13, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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There is a new award on the high school tennis scene.

It was created last fall and is called the Western Pennsylvania Boys Tennis Sportsmanship Award.

Players, coaches and WPIAL officials can offer nominations.

The award recognizes students who “are consistently friendly and fair and display the characteristics of outstanding sportsmanship.”

A similar award was given for girls tennis in the fall.

“Tennis requires not only great athletic ability but also fierce determination and will,” said Quaker Valley coach Christi Hays, who is on the WPIAL tennis steering committee. “It also requires honesty, cooperation, resiliency and trust, individually and with your opponent.

“So we think it is important to reward players with great talent but also players who play with great sportsmanship. I don’t think you can separate the two.”

The inaugural winners in boys tennis are Central Catholic’s Anthony Arshoun, Norwin’s Nicholas Cormas and Baldwin’s David Werner in Class 3A. In Class 2A, award recipients are Beaver’s Andrew Cavett, Valley’s Nick Bussard and Aquinas Academy’s Jackson Gillespie, who placed third in the WPIAL Class 2A singles tournament this season.

Hays is on a small tennis committee along with Sewickley Academy athletic director Win Palmer and a representative of tennis parents. The committee started the award program during the 2022 girls season.

“Sportsmanship is important in every sport, but tennis is unique in that there are no referees, no linespeople, no scorekeepers,” Hays said. “It is completely up to the players to act in good faith and manage the match themselves.

“We happen to think that tennis is one of the more challenging sports and one of the most enlightened. A tennis player is alone on an island, completely exposed. Standing solo or with one teammate on the court is a foreign feeling for most athletes. When a tennis player makes a mistake, it is out there for everyone to see.”

There were four honorable mention selections in Class 3A: Allderdice’s Ian Kurchera, Shaler’s Will Nebiolo, Penn-Trafford’s Dan Setzenfand and Baldwin’s Braden Yokopenic.

In Class 2A, the honorable mention list is a long one, composed of Quaker Valley’s Chase Merkel and Joseph Veeck, Indiana’s Kyle Zheng, Carlynton’s Wilson Choate, West Allegheny’s Andrew Dudeck, Hampton’s Vitaliy Pikalo, Montour’s Jacob Erdner, Central Valley’s Tanner Baughman, Greensburg Salem’s Sam Spigarelli, Blackhawk’s Caleb Farone and Latrobe’s August Lawrence.

Merkel and Veeck, at No. 1 and No. 3 singles, helped lead Quaker Valley to a section championship and an 11-0 record this season.

“I am incredibly honored and humbled to be named for this sportsmanship award,” Veeck said. “Sportsmanship is not always about playing fair and showing respect, but embodying integrity and kindness on the court.

“I always seek to conduct myself this way toward my opponent and those watching. Although I do get down on myself at times, I aim to embrace the value of sportsmanship.”

The Western Pennsylvania Tennis Sportsmanship Award was created by a nonprofit organization not affiliated with the WPIAL or PIAA.

Considerations for the award include but are not limited to nominator comments, the number of nominations from different schools and any history of nominations in prior years without winning.

Players can be nominated in multiple years but can only win the award once.

“One challenge for anything new like this is to get traction to get more people, players and coaches to participate and nominate,” Hays said. “It is an extremely easy process. And more participation will add to the prestige of the award. We are hoping it will become a very coveted award every year.”

There will not be an official awards ceremony. Trophies and award certificates will be sent to each school’s athletic director.