Praneel Mallaiah went 11-0 at No. 1 singles to lead the way as Abington Heights completed its third straight perfect league season while winning its 12 th Lackawanna League boys tennis season in the last 14.
The Comets shut out nine of 11 opponents 5-0 and beat the other two, Delaware Valley in the opener and Scranton Prep in an April 15 first-place showdown, by 4-1 scores.
Scranton Prep wound up 10-1 and in second place in the league and will also be the second seed, behind unbeaten Wyoming Valley Conference champion Wyoming Seminary, in the District 2 Class 2A team tournament.
Abington Heights is the top seed as it tries to win another District 2 Class 3A team title.
Mallaiah, the 2022 district singles champion as a freshman, led an all-underclassmen team to the title. He also was part of the district champion doubles team last season.
Abington Heights players went 32-1 in singles during the league season.
Freshman William Arp was 10-1 in the second spot.
Junior Domenic Peters was 9-0 at No. 3 where another freshman, Arthur Comstock, had the other two wins.
Comstock usually played No. 1 doubles.
With the league title on the line, Mallaiah and Peters grabbed the singles points while Abington Heights swept doubles.
Dakota Kilonsky and Comstock won at No. 1 doubles while Michael Klamp-Liam Farrell rolled 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2. Farrell is a sophomore while the other three are freshmen.
POSTSEASON
Both Abington Heights and Scranton Prep earned the right to host May 1 quarterfinals in the District 2 team tournament.
The semifinals and finals are scheduled for May 3 at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre. The Class 2A semifinals are scheduled for 11:30 a.m., followed by Class 3A semifinals at 1 p.m., then the finals.
Teams will try to advance to the state tournament May 14, with the last three rounds set for Hershey May 17-18.
Singles is scheduled for May 7, with Class 2A at Kirby Park and Class 3A at the nearby Wilkes University courts. The semifinals and finals are planned for the next day at Kirby Park, beginning at 1 p.m.
Doubles is scheduled for May 13 and May 15, following the same format.
The state tournaments in singles and doubles are May 24-25 in Hershey.
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