PWHS Boys Tennis wins the Suburban One League Doubles Tournament

by Matt Licwinko, Class of 2024

PWHS played host to the Liberty Division of the Suburban One League last Thursday for the boys doubles tournament to complete the 2023-24 Spring season.

After finishing off the regular season with an 8-1 record, the boys tennis team prepared to compete in the doubles tournament in order to win a league championship. The tournament consisted of ten schools with two teams each. 

The PWHS first team of Junior James Fassbender and Freshman Jinay Sheth was honored with the #1 seed and a first round bye to start off the day. In their first match, they went up against Abington. The scoring system used in the first round is what’s referred to as “prosets” which are played to eight, and the pair beat beat Abington by a score of 8-0.

The semi-final and final rounds of the tournament are scored in best of three sets. 

After advancing into the semi-finals, PWHS met Hatboro-Horsham for a chance to play in the championship round. Jinay and James were able to combine their efforts to take the first set before comfortably advancing to the final match with a second set victory.

In the final round they would meet Quakertown. Despite an admirable effort from their opponents, PWHS won both of the first two sets to claim a victory in the tournament.

This marks an important milestone for the boys tennis team. Head coach Beth Rickard told us that the victory felt, “Absolutely amazing.” 

She went on to congratulate her winning team, saying that “Jinay and James worked really hard and strategized really well. You can see that their hard work paid off.” 

They will await the PIAA draw for the PIAA District One doubles tournament in the coming weeks. That tournament will feature six teams for a chance at a district championship. Both Jinay and James will also be competing in the PIAA DIstrict One Singles Tournament after finishing second and third respectively in the SOL singles tournament.