Dallas boys tennis edges Holy Cross for third straight District 2 team title
May 9—WILKES-BARRE — Heading into a second-set tiebreak, Jon Florencio was the last man out there for Dallas.
The four other matches had already wrapped, and it was Florencio and Holy Cross's Chris Martinez that would determine which team was going home with a District 2 Class 2A boys team tennis crown.
After missing out on a few earlier chances to win the match, Florencio dug deep and was finally able to put Martinez away to win the tiebreak, win the match and earn Dallas a third straight boys team title with a 3-2 victory over Holy Cross on Tuesday at Kirby Park.
"That was the first time that's happened to me before," Florencio said, referring to the way the match came to rest on his shoulders at the end. "I felt like if I won, I would be the hero. ... It felt amazing."
Florencio defeated Martinez in an absolute thriller, winning 6-4, 7-6 with a 9-7 edge in the tiebreaker that, by the time the winning point was scored, had brought the whole crowd down to the Court No. 5 in the Kirby Park complex to watch.
The Mountaineers advanced past Scranton Prep 3-2 in the semifinals earlier in the day, while Holy Cross defeated Wyoming Area 3-2 in their semifinal to set up a championship clash that felt every bit like two worthy title contenders duking it out.
The script for Dallas in the finals was flipped from their victory in the semis — at least at first. Lucas Carver and Luca DeRome, both defeated by Prep earlier in the day, breezed through their singles matches to put two points on the board for Dallas.
Conversely, the Holy Cross doubles tandems of Alex Harrison/Ray Zhang and Connor Straka/Owen Jumper were able to tie things up with wins over Dallas' doubles teams, which had both won in the semis.
"Each opponent you face, you could see what their lineup is going to be like," Dallas coach Joe Pugliese said. "Scranton Prep was very strong in singles. ... Our focus this morning was on the doubles. This afternoon, I knew it was going to be the opposite."
Once the second doubles match went final — with Harrison and Zhang coming back from a set down to defeat Mihir Mukul and Kevin Basalyga — all eyes turned to Florencio and Martinez in the third singles match.
Florencio had won the first set and was up a break in the second, serving for the match and the championship. But Martinez, tough as nails, fought through multiple match points to go from down 5-4 to up 6-5 in the set, trying to find a way to force a third and decisive set.
Florencio, who hadn't lost a match all year to that point, was able to regain his composure and play some of the best tennis of the day in the second set tiebreak.
"I realized during the game that I kept on making mistakes ... I just had to be consistent," Florencio said. "During that tiebreaker, I just solidified and I went through."
"He's been getting more and more confident as the year's gone on," Pugliese said.
The win marks Dallas' third district title in a row and fourth in the last five team tournaments (2018, 2021-23). The pandemic wiped out the 2020 boys season.
"I did not expect this. ... We had a good group of guys coming back but also some rookies that we had to bring in this year," Pugliese said. "Overall, the team did great."
The Mountaineers will begin their run in the PIAA Class 2A team tournament on Tuesday, taking on District 11 champion Moravian Academy.
Joining them from District 2 in state action will be Abington Heights, winners of a 10th straight District 2 Class 3A boys team title with a 3-0 victory over Valley View on Tuesday.
The District 2 Class 3A championship, which started about an hour after the 2A finals and still finished ahead of Dallas and Holy Cross, was an all-Lackawanna Conference affair after Abington Heights knocked Berwick out of the field and Valley View defeated Delaware Valley.
Sam Christman and Dominic Peters notched singles wins for Abington Heights, and the doubles team of Luke Morgan and Liam Farrell clinched the championship with a three-set win over L.V. Pegula and AJ Tomassoni of Valley View.
H.S. Boys Tennis
District 2 Class 2A Championship
Dallas 3, Holy Cross 2
Singles: 1. Lucas Carver (DAL) def. Dhiraj Baniya 6-2, 6-0; 2. Luca DeRome (DAL) def. David Huester 6-1, 6-2; 3. Jon Florencio (DAL) def. Chris Martinez 6-4, 7-6 (9-7).
Doubles: 1. Alex Harrison/Ray Zhang (HC) def. Mihir Mikul/Kevin Basalyga 2-6, 6-0, 7-5; 2. Connor Straka/Owen Jumper (HC) def. Stephen Miller/Artem Smagin 6-1, 6-2.
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