Sat. Pa. boys' and girls' roundup: Conestoga defends state title

Kevin Wang swept through a pair of straight-set wins on Saturday, and his Conestoga boys' tennis team owns back-to-back PIAA state championships after the Pioneers handled Shady Side Academy, 4-1, in the Class AAA finals at the Hershey Racquet Club.

Wang joined Jason Sutker and Brian Grodecki in winning straight-set singles matches, and Conestoga added a win at first doubles from Eric Yen and Josh Sutker to hand Shady Side (21-1) its first loss.

Conestoga (21-4) beat Mount Lebanon, 3-0, earlier in the semifinals.

Class AA. Harriton swept the doubles, but lost three heartbreaking, three-set singles matches in a 3-2 loss to Wyoming Seminary in the PIAA state team semifinals at the Hershey Racquet Club.

Run-scoring hits by Suzy Bernstein and Hannah Albertine in the sixth inning gave Friends' Central enough offense to win the Friends Schools League championship, 2-1, over visiting Abington Friends.

Isabel Nardi pitched a two-hitter with four strikeouts for the win, but the Phoenix trailed by 1-0 until Bernstein's single to left field drove in Brina Folwell in the sixth inning.

Bernstein went to third base on the throw home, and had no trouble scoring the winning run when Albertine followed with a triple.

Folwell went 2 for 3 as the lone player with multiple hits. The teams had split a pair of regular-season meetings.

"It was a good team effort today," Friends' Central coach Tony Coladonato said. "This team has really responded and played above our expectations this year."

Catie Smith scored her only goal of the game with 52 seconds remaining to give Conestoga a 10-9 upset of top-seeded and unbeaten Great Valley in the quarterfinals of the District 1 tournament at West Chester East.

The eighth-seeded Pioneers (14-7) trailed by 6-4 at halftime before rallying behind Meghan McGillis' six-goal, two-assist game and 13 saves from goalie Sarah Priem.

Ali Karowski netted three goals for Great Valley (20-1), ranked No. 1 in the state by phillylacrosse.com.

In other quarterfinals at East, Harriton edged Springfield (Delco), 10-9, with six goals by Jessica Schwab, including the game-winner with 6:42 left. The Rams will face Conestoga in Tuesday's semifinals at West Chester Henderson.

Garnet Valley followed AnnaElise Morello's three goals and four assists and Halley Barnes' four goals and two assists to a 16-6 triumph over Strath Haven.

Radnor received goals from nine players, including Natalie Miller with five and Sara Curley and Kristen Norden with four each, en route to a 20-10 win over Hatboro-Horsham.

Garnet Valley's defense allowed no goals over the last three quarters and claimed a 6-4 upset win over third-seeded Central Bucks East in the District 1 tournament quarterfinals at Harriton.

Zach Penfuil won 11 of 13 face-offs and Jule Raucci scored three goals for the 11th-seeded Jaguars.

Dylan Ikkala scored twice, and Tyler McWilliams had a goal and an assist for Downingtown West in a 7-4 win over Abington.

Great Valley, seeded No. 20, pulled off its third straight upset, dumping No. 5 seed Hatboro-Horsham, 8-1, anchored by goalie Peter Hayes with 10 saves and fueled by Tim Lamb's four goals.

Conestoga cruised past Radnor, 13-6, as Tyler Brooke scored four goals and Brad Lord and Jake Scott added one apiece.

Public. Del-Val Charter used Dale Kallas' five goals to defeat Audenried, 11-2, in the final regular-season game. Del-Val will be the league's No. 3 seed when the playoffs begin Monday.

Hill School got a first-inning grand slam from Adam Regensburg but needed Mike Gvodas' two-out, RBI single in the 14th inning to squeeze past visiting Riverdale Baptist, 10-9.