Joshi, Harrison win singles gold
Parkland's boys tennis team crowned two singles champs and two doubles champs at Monday's Lehigh Valley Conference Tennis Tournament.
The nine-time conference champ Trojans edged Emmaus, 28-24 in team points to win the tournament's team title.
Roshan Joshi won the No. 2 singles title Monday, while teammate Peter Harrison took first place in No. 3 singles. In doubles action, Nate Lyman and Nishad Gothoskar teamed up for the No. 3 doubles crown, while Donovan Snyder and Peter Sohn earned the gold medal at No. 4 doubles.
Joshi, the No. 2 seed at No. 2 singles, cruised through his first two matches by scores of 8-1 and 10-0. He met top-seeded Rowan Hobson of Emmaus in the title match and won 10-5.
"I think I played pretty well," said Joshi, who usually plays at No. 3 singles. "I knew I was going up against a tough opponent. I just used my speed. I know my strokes are there. That's definitely the key to my game. Instead of staying at the net, I usually go to the baseline and just hit my strokes and get to every ball. It all worked out."
Joshi enters this week's District 11 singles tournament on a high note.
"This definitely gives me confidence," said Joshi. "With this win I feel like I can make more of an impact in that tournament, get close to the finals."
Harrison was excited for the opportunity to move up from his usual spot as a doubles player while teammate Egor Ivanov is out of the line up.
Ivanov, the team's No. 1 singles player the last three years and a two-time district finalist, did not play in Monday's tournament.
Harrison made the most of his opportunity, taking the LVC gold medal at No. 3 singles Monday.
"I was pretty excited about getting a chance to play singles," said Harrison. "I play singles outside of high school throughout the year. I thought this would be a chance to show what I've got in singles."
Harrison was seeded third at No. 3 singles. He beat Liberty's Milind Jagota, 8-2 in the quarterfinal round then knocked off top-seeded RJ Dave (Emmaus), 10-7 in their semifinal.
The Trojans' No. 3 doubles team of Lyman and Gothoskar were seeded fourth. They won their first match, 8-1 and their semifinal, 10-3. They cruised to a 10-4 win in the title match over Emmaus' Gavin Daugherty and Kevin Fine.
At No. 4 doubles, Snyder and Sohn won their opener 8-0, then edged Bethlehem Catholic's Peter Demyan and Chris Landolfi, 10-8.
Snyder and Sohn beat Emmaus' top-seeded pairing of Kyle Jaeger and Sanket Narayana in the No. 4 doubles final, 10-5.
Parkland's other two tournament entries both earned silver medals at the LVC Tournament.
Nick Kshatri (No. 3 seed) lost the No. 1 singles final to top-seeded Andrew Sinai of Freedom, 10-1. Kshatri won his first match, 8-0, before knocking off No. 2 seed Matt Fitzmaurice (Emmaus) in the semifinal, 10-5.
The Trojans' top doubles pairing of Marcus Speigel and Mike Adams were seeded second. They fell in the No. 2 doubles final, 10-5 to Emmaus Ryan Jaeger and Mike Hensler.
Speigel and Adams opened the tournament with an 8-2 win over Central Catholic's team of Mike Gordon and Shawn Regan. They went on to beat Bethlehem Catholic's Marcin Borganli and Paolo Turco in the semifinals.