Boys tennis: Wyoming Seminary 1 win from PIAA team finals

Amid a potentially historic state playoff run, Wyoming Seminary swept Quaker Valley, 3-0, in Friday's PIAA Class 2A boys team tennis quarterfinals.

Now one win shy of playing for a state championship, Sem's No. 1 singles player Eamon Gibbons was excellent, as were the Blue Knights' doubles teams.

"They looked really good," head coach Allison Joanlanne said of her players. "Doubles was playing great, singles was tough ... but it was competitive."

Jubilation quickly turned to frustration, however, when Joanlanne learned the Blue Knights must forfeit No. 2 singles the rest of the way.

According to Joanlanne, Andrew Schukraft had a flight booked Friday night to North Carolina, where his sister is graduating from college.

"The PIAA is not letting me substitute Andrew Schukraft because they don't think his reasoning — why he's not there — is good enough," Joanlanne said.

It was explained to Joanlanne, she said, that the PIAA will allow substitutions only under "extraordinary circumstances," such as a death in the family or motor vehicle accident.

"I'm all about letting the kids play. That's what high school tennis is about," Joanlanne said. "For them to not let my kids play, it's just beyond my reasoning for this. I don't understand it."

Nonetheless, Wyoming Seminary is playing like a team that could dig itself out of a 1-0 deficit 8:30 a.m. today against District 3 champion Lancaster Country Day at Hershey Racquet Club.

If Sem wins, it will play District 3 runner-up Wyomissing or District 7 champion Sewickley Academy for the state championship at 3:30 today, also in Hershey.

Sewickley Academy defeated Wyomissing in last year's state championship.

In No. 1 singles Friday, Gibbons — who lost his first-round PIAA match while nursing a sore ankle — got back on track with a 6-1, 6-0 win against Walter Hubsch.

Sem then clinched its 3-0 victory with wins in Nos. 1 (Michael Kim/Will Ziegler) and 2 (Andrew Kim/Duncan Lumia) doubles.

"They're just going for it," Joanlanne said of her doubles teams. "They're going for it, they're being aggressive, they are communicating and they're playing consistent."

The Kim brothers will join Schukraft in missing today's action, however.

Joanlanne said the brothers must attend a family funeral, but that the PIAA is allowing Sem to replace them with teammates Samir Singh and Tommy Dang.

Today's semifinal opponent, Lancaster Country Day, swept District 7 runner-up Indiana 3-0 on Friday.

Sem last appeared in a state final in 2012, while it last won a state title in 2001.

Wyoming Seminary 3, Quaker Valley 0

SINGLES: 1. Eamon Gibbons (Sem) won 6-1, 6-0. 2. Andrew Schukraft (Sem) match halted at 6-3, 3-6. 3. Jerry Tang (Sem) match halted at 6-4, 1-5. DOUBLES: 1. Michael Kim/Will Ziegler (Sem) won 6-2, 6-3. 2. Andrew Kim/Duncan Lumia (Sem) won 6-2, 6-3.

Contact the writer: mbufano@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2060, @CVBufano on Twitter

Source: Boys tennis: Wyoming Seminary 1 win from PIAA team finals