Penn Charter tops SCH racquetmen, 6-1

Posted 4/23/18

Senior Ben Swanson led Penn Charter at first singles. (Photo by Tom Utescher) by Tom Utescher It was the third week of April, but those weren’t Dogwood blossoms falling around the tennis courts at …

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Penn Charter tops SCH racquetmen, 6-1

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Senior Ben Swanson led Penn Charter at first singles. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

It was the third week of April, but those weren’t Dogwood blossoms falling around the tennis courts at Penn Charter – they were large flakes of snow. Fans who came out to watch the Quakers and the visiting Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Blue Devils might not have believed their eyes if they hadn’t been shivering with the cold at the same time.

It was uncomfortable, but the courts were playable, and there already had been enough disruption of the schedule this spring. PC and SCH played on through, with Charter securing a 6-1 victory. The Quakers, who took all four doubles bouts, evened up their overall record at 3-3, while SCH, which was saved from a sweep by Levi Veleanu at second singles, slipped to 2-3.

The Blue Devils’ Veleanu was the first singles player to complete a set, winning 6-3. The visiting sophomore faced a stiffer challenge in the second set, but eventually prevailed over PC freshman Joshua John, 7-5.

Everything else went Penn Charter’s way. There were some long points at third singles, but Quakers sophomore Charlie Jordan-Weinstein won the majority of them, topping SCH senior Augie Sissick, 6-2, 6-4. At first singles, Blue Devils senior Jordan Lubell played better as the match went along, but still succumbed to Charter’s Ben Swanson, 6-1, 7-5. Also a senior, Swanson will attend the University of Pennsylvania, where he will look into playing as a walk-on.

Playing third singles, Quakers sophomore Charlie Jordan-Weinstein follows through on a backhand. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

PC proved to be significantly stronger in the top two doubles flights than it guest, only yielding three games in each of those contests. At number one, senior Justin Ko and junior Tom Bradbeer were 6-0, 6-3 winners over Springside Chestnut Hill sophomore Carlo Filippini and junior Victor Jones, and in the second flight Quakers seniors Alex Shipon and Jake Cutler went past visiting junior Ehson Shirazi and eighth-grader David Lubell, 6-2, 6-1.

Penn Charter seniors Nigel George and Josh Toll took the third doubles bout, 7-5, 6-3 over SCH juniors Cole Golden and Simon Kioko, leaving only the fourth doubles players out on the court.

Sophomore George Peck and senior Jared Yetter of the Blue Devils pulled out the first set at 7-6 (7-4), then Charter juniors Rohan Bhambhani and David Garnick rebounded for a 6-3 victory in the second set.

By this time, the aforementioned snowflakes were slowly floating down and everyone on hand was thoroughly chilled. Since PC had long since captured the team victory, a super tiebreaker was played instead of a full third set and the PC pair prevailed, 10-7.

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