No Doubt
WEXFORD — In his bid to win a second straight WPIAL Class 2A tennis singles championship, Nicolas Scheller was simply overwhelming.
In a rematch of last year’s final, North Catholic’s senior made quick work of Mike Sirianni, dispatching Quaker Valley’s top player in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, at the Pennsylvania Tennis Academy Wednesday afternoon.
“Because of the threat of rain, the match was moved indoors,” said North coach Eric Solverson. “The courts there are a bit faster and Nicolas didn’t give him much of a chance. He (Sirianni) won just a few points in the first few games.
“Quaker Valley players are smart and steady. Sirianni beat some good players to get to the final, but Nicolas is highly focused. He competed in national tournaments over the offseason, is truly overpowering and he handled the pressure of being the defending champion well.”
Rather than thinking about his opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, Scheller instead made the match about what he is capable of on the court.
“I just played my game. My serves and returns were both great and the faster surface definitely worked to my advantage,” said Scheller, who dropped just four games in four matches in the tournament, which began Tuesday. “This is the way I wanted to go out today.”
Scheller honed his skills at the HIT Academy in Florida last summer. His future in tennis will come at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, near Charlotte.
As the WPIAL champion, Scheller will compete in the PIAA tournament in late May in Hershey. He battled leg cramps in last year’s state final and placed second.
“I just want to go out there and have fun,” he said. “I played a lot of tennis when I was younger, then took about three years off. I got back into it at the start of my junior year just hoping to have fun with it.”
Solverson believes Scheller has put himself in position to have a memorable finish to his high school career.
“As well as he played last year to get to the state championship, he’s even better now,” he said.
North Catholic has also been dominant as a team, currently sporting a 7-0 record with the WPIAL tournament looming in early May.
“The team’s been great this season and it’s a great atmosphere,” Scheller said.
Also advancing to the state singles event was Mars junior Josh Dunham, who defeated Thomas Jefferson’s Drew Dimidjian, 6-0, 6-0, to place third in the district.
