Charter tops SCH in league tennis tilt

Posted 4/29/13

In doubles play during a match against visiting Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, Penn Charter senior Randy Beck lines up a forehand stroke. (Photo by Tom Utescher) by Tom Utescher Hosting an …

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Charter tops SCH in league tennis tilt

Posted

In doubles play during a match against visiting Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, Penn Charter senior Randy Beck lines up a forehand stroke. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Hosting an Inter-Ac League tennis match last Tuesday afternoon, Penn Charter had some JV boys in the line-up in some of the doubles flights, but still were able to overcome visiting Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, 6-1.

The Quakers won all three singles bouts, while in pairs play, they prevailed everywhere except at second doubles. PC climbed above the .500 mark in league competition, gaining a 2-1 record that included a 6-1 win over Germantown Academy, and a loss by the same score to Haverford School. Overall, the Quakers leveled off at 3-3 with the SCH victory; a day earlier they had succumbed to four-time defending Friends Schools League champ Friends Central by a 5-2 tally.

Tuesday’s outcome left Springside Chestnut Hill still searching for its first victory in the league; Blue Devils had an overall record of 2-4-1 which included an unusual 3-3 tie with Shipley School.

The cards have been stacked against the SCH squad from the outset this spring. Currently, the Blue Devils have no tennis courts of their own. A new seven-court complex is under construction at the school, but it won’t be ready until the next academic year.

In addition, the Devils’ top two players from 2012, both currently still in school as a senior and a junior, aren’t playing for the school team this spring.

Last Tuesday Penn Charter’s singles players, all juniors, each prevailed in straight sets. Taking his first set at 6-0, number one DreShaun Jarmon received more resistance in the second round from fellow 11th grader Josh Moss of SCH, but closed out the match, 6-4.

On the next rung of the singles ladder, Charter’s Benn Plotnik took two 6-2 sets from Blue Devils sophomore Jay Regam, while at number three Ben Richards of the Quakers topped visiting freshman Billy Harris, 6-0, 6-3.

PC’s young first doubles team featured freshman Nirvikar Singh and sophomore Max Sanders, who posted a 6-2, 6-4 win against Springside Chestnut Hill senior Tim Ogle and junior Harrison Tracy.

It was the Quakers who had experience on their side in the second doubles match, but that didn’t really influence the outcome in this bout, either. Saving the visitors from a sweep in the overall score, SCH eighth-grader Chris Dalglish and junior Brian Giegerich got by PC seniors Randy Beck and Matt Brown, 7-6, 6-4.

Tennis is the third upper school varsity sport that the young Dalglish has played this year. He was a member of the Blue Devils’ golf and squash teams in the fall and winter seasons.

Of the seniors playing in last Tuesday’s court clash, two have made their college choices. PC’s Beck is going to enter the U.S. Naval Academy, and his doubles partner, Brown, will attend Temple University’s College of Engineering.

A third Penn Charter 12th-grader, Tyler Gottlieb, joined up with sophomore Norman Williams to record a 6-3, 6-4 decision over a pair of Blue Devil 10th-graders, Matt Giegerich and Garrison Xian. SCH had freshmen Andrew Dolente and Wyatt Smith playing at fourth doubles, where they fell, 6-3, 6-1, to junior Matt Swiman and sophomore Ethan Benoff of the host team.

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