Abington Heights’ fantastic freshman, Prayush Mallaiah, had his first experience of state-level competition last week.
Now he is relying on that experience and looking to bounce back on his return trip to the Hershey Racquet Club.
Mallaiah drew a rematch with Conestoga junior Ethan Sun on Friday at 8 a.m. in the first round of the Class 3A singles tournament at the PIAA Tennis Championship.
When the two standouts met in the semifinals of the Class 3A team tournament, Sun handed Mallaiah his first singles loss of the season, 7-5, 6-0. Conestoga defeated the Comets, 3-0, and finished as the runner-up to North Allegheny.
“This is exciting,” Mallaiah said. “This is my first time in the singles tournament, so I am really hyped about it.
“I am focusing on having more consistency in my shots. When I played him, a lot of my errors were because he was forcing me into those errors, so that is what I will try to work on when I play him again.
The Mallaiah-Sun rematch starts a busy day of action. Abington Heights’ doubles team of William Arp and Liam Farrell battles Pennsbury’s Frankie DeLucia and Vincent Strenge in the first round of the Class 3A doubles tournament.
First-round winners advance to the quarterfinals that start at 4 p.m.
Wyoming Seminary’s Billy Hall faces District 6 champion Nilesh Singh in the Class 2A first round at noon. His teammates Stefan Zecar and Dhru Sudhakar take on District 6 champion John Allen and Brett Hoffman at 2 p.m. in the Class 2A doubles first round.
Mallaiah, who is ranked No. 6 in the state for the freshman class by tennisrecruiting.net, dominated in his first varsity season. He posted an unblemished record without losing a set in the Lackawanna League and District 2 seasons. He also had a win against Radner sophomore Carter McIlwain and was leading his match against Upper St. Clair sophomore Carter Litchman, 6-4, 4-1, in the state team tournament.
Sun is ranked No. 8 for the Class of 2027. He finished fourth in the District 1 Class 3A singles tournament. In addition to his win over Mallaiah, Sun’s No. 1 singles matches against Hempfield sophomore Braylen Garcia and Hershey sophomore Gabriel Yuan did not finish, and he lost to North Allegheny junior Advaita Sircar, 6-1, 6-0, during the team tournament.
“I’ll be more aggressive with my game,” Mallaiah said. “I know his playing style now. I will be able to implement a better strategy this weekend.”
Hall helped Wyoming Seminary reach the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals in the team tournament. He earned a 6-1, 6-0 win over Camp Hill sophomore Sam Sachs and defeated Cathedral Prep senior Gavin Ferretti, 6-3, 6-1, in his No. 1 singles matches.