Sewickley Academy celebrates 25th WPIAL boys tennis title

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, May 12, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Sewickley Academy and Quaker Valley are located just a few miles apart.

It’s a breeding ground for high school boys tennis.

Sewickley and QV advanced to the WPIAL Class 2A championship match off their winning performances in the postseason.

One team was expected to be there; the other, not so much.

But it was a close call, as the top-seeded Panthers edged their QV rivals by a 3-2 score May 8 at Washington & Jefferson College.

“They are a very good team so we were expecting a battle,” said Sewickley junior Severin Harmon, the team’s No. 1 singles player and the reigning WPIAL 2A champion. “That being said, I had faith in our guys to pull it out.

“I thought we played really well, especially Max (Kopf) and Ben (Terrell) at No. 2 doubles. They brought the energy early, helping us settle into the match. That was huge for all of us. It felt like we played as a team today, which is awesome, and something we hope to emulate at the PIAA championships.”

Sewickley, as the defending WPIAL champion, received a first-round bye. The Panthers then beat No. 8 Valley, 5-0, and No. 4 South Park, 4-1, to move into the finals.

No. 6 Quaker Valley stunned No. 3 Winchester Thurston, 4-1, and No. 2 North Catholic, 3-2, prior to the championship round. The Quakers also defeated No. 11 Mt. Pleasant, 4-1, in the first round.

Harmon, sophomore Finn Wentz and junior Sebastian Tan are the leading singles players for the Panthers.

Nonetheless, QV freshman William Meagher opened the match by defeating Wentz, 6-1, 6-2. Minutes later, Harmon swept QV senior Chase Merkel, 6-1, 6-0.

Sewickley freshmen Ben Terrell and Max Kopf defeated QV’s senior tandem of Will Watson and Brahm Gianiodis, 6-3, 6-4, and Sebastian Tan then clinched the title for the Panthers by defeating senior Joe Veeck, 6-2, 6-1.

Tan said he was “excited and ready to win” prior to his match.

“Overall, our team played incredibly cohesively,” he said. “I think every one of us played well and brought the school spirit that we needed in order to win. I played my match very strategically. I played incredibly consistently, so I was able to win by a pretty large margin. I was locked in all the way.”

QV seniors Grant Webb and Matteo Castellini added a point to the final score by beating Sewickley’s senior tandem Jackson Quigley and Tejas Mitra, 7-5, 1-6, 6-1.

“Huge props to Quaker Valley,” Hamon said. “They played a great match and made us earn every point. Matches like that are the most rewarding.”

Quaker Valley has had a solid one-two punch at the top of its lineup this season.

Merkel and Veeck, at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, were joined by Meagher at the third singles position. Merkel and Veeck are two of seven seniors on the QV squad.

Merkel is in his second season as the Quakers’ No. 1 singles player. He said Sewickley was QV’s toughest opponent of the season.

“They are a team with a lot of depth in their lineup just like ours,” Merkel said. “I think the biggest advantage going in was knowing we are the underdogs, knowing all the pressure was on them, knowing that we weren’t even expected to go this far.”

Veeck, like all of his teammates, was looking forward to the Quakers’ championship round challenge. He said matching up with the Panthers would be “a ton of fun.”

“I think we were all really fired up,” Veeck said. “We’d seen them before and knew what we had to bring.”

Sewickley defeated QV during the regular season by a 4-1 score at Nichols Field. Meagher said his team was looking for redemption.

“It was a highly anticipated match on our side and, with a championship on the line, it had the potential to be even more rewarding,” Meagher said. “Some of my good friends are on their team, which added to the excitement.”

This year’s WPIAL team championship was the 25th in school history for Sewickley.

“We are more ready than ever for states,” Tan said.

Tags: Quaker Valley, Sewickley Academy