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From Mirror reports
The Hollidaysburg boys high school tennis team is headed to the Elite 8.
That's because the Golden Tigers defeated Cedar Crest, the District 3 3A champion with a 19-1 record, on Tuesday, 3-2, in the first round of the PIAA state playoffs at the Gorilla House Gym.
"We knew all five matches would be extremely competitive and that was exactly the case," said Golden Tigers coach Brian Denis, whose club improved to 20-1. "There were so many momentum changes and matches that could have gone either way. It feels awesome to pull out three matches and that sent us to the final eight in the state."
Hollidaysburg took two of the three singles matches with Nathan Barton beat Viseth Meng, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3 and Jadd Younes downing Joe Shkreli, 6-4, 6-2. That meant the Golden Tigers needed one of the two doubles matchups to go their way, and Haddy Obeid and Collin Edgell made sure of that. The duo won 6-4, 7-5 over Charlie Robbins and Isaac Wolfe.
"It is such an honor to have our name mentioned with some of the best teams in the state. I am so happy for all of these kids," Denis said. "They truly deserve it after how much they have wanted to win this one and get to Hershey."
The Golden Tigers' Ben Johnson lost 7-5, 6-4 to Rocco Shkreli while the doubles team of Felix Xu and Michael Waibel fell 7-5, 6-3 to Ryan Glover and Ben Sheffield.
"What a memorable run this has been for our program," Denis said. "We keep living to fight another day."
Hollidaysburg will play Conestoga out of District 1 on Friday at the Hershey Racquet Club at 5:30 p.m. Conestoga beat St. Joseph's Prep, 4-0, Tuesday.
"Our next match will be extremely difficult one, regardless, but anything from here on in is icing on the cake," Denis said. "Hopefully we can go down to Hershey and show everybody that for our size, little ol' Hollidaysburg is one of the best in the state."
SINGLES: 1, Barton, H, def. Meng, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3; 2, R. Shkreli, CC, def. Johnson, 7-5, 6-4; 3, Younes, H, def. J. Shkreli, 6-4, 6-2.
DOUBLES: 1, Obeid-Edgell, H, def. Robbins-Wolfe, 6-4, 7-5; 2, Glover-Sheffield, C, def. Xu-Waibel, 7-5, 6-3.
Records: Hollidaysburg (20-1) Cedarcrest (19-2)