Sudhakar and Kampi win WPIAL Doubles
by: Boys Tennis Contributor
The North Allegheny boys tennis team continued its history-making season on Wednesday when the doubles team of junior Ashwin Sudhakar and senior Matthew Kampi won WPIAL gold. This season marks just the second time in the school’s illustrious tennis history, and first since 2001, that NA players have won both the WPIAL Singles and WPIAL Doubles Championships, as Sudhakar and Kampi join junior Advaita Sircar who won the singles title two weeks ago. It is the first time in school history that NA players have claimed three of the possible four individual WPIAL medals as senior Evan Kaufman took second to Sircar’s championship.
After winning three matches on Tuesday, the tandem squared off against the second-seeded Mt. Lebanon duo of Luca Ritivoi and Noah Klaber. The Blue Devils came out of the gate hot with a hold of Ritivoi’s serve. The Tigers answered with a hold of their own from Sudhakar and then got the first break of the match off of Klaber. The teams then traded breaks, but another hold by Sudhakar gave NA a 4-2 lead. Klaber held and Mt. Lebanon was looking to tie the match at four games apiece as they had two break points on Kampi’s serve. The Tigers rallied and took the crucial game to go up 5-3. After a hold by Ritivoi, Sudhakar closed out the first set with a hold, 6-4.
The second set would offer much less drama as the Tigers broke Klaber in the first game. While the second seeds tried to offer resistance with a break of Kampi, it just prolonged the inevitable. NA’s pair would go on to win five straight games to take the second set, 6-1, and secure gold. The duo becomes just the seventh NA doubles team to win WPIAL gold and the first in a decade. Notably, past NA doubles gold medal winners include current Head Coach Matt Woffington (1992, 1993) and current Assistant Coach Jared Isaacs (2016).
Sudhakar and Kampi will travel to Hershey to compete in the PIAA Doubles Championships on May 22-23, along with teammates Sircar, and WPIAL singles runner-up, Kaufman, who will compete in the PIAA Singles Championships.
Up next for the team is a playoff primer on their quest to complete the gold trifecta, as they travel to perennial powerhouse Shady Side Academy for a match on Thursday at 3:30.
Tournament Summary
Championship
#1 Ashwin Sudhakar/Matthw Kampi (NA) def. #2 Luca Ritivoi/Noah Klaber (MTL) 6-4, 6-1
