Frank Siegel is interested in whatever challenge the Fox Chapel tennis program may have for him. The sophomore first started playing doubles with junior Grant Fenton during the section tournament.

Siegel and Fenton found the right chemistry to help Siegel defend his section crown and reach the WPIAL Class 3A championships. Siegel teamed with Mason Friday to win the crown last season.

Siegel and Fenton won their first match at the district championships before bowing out in the quarterfinals April 22 at North Allegheny.

“Going back to back is awesome,” Siegel said. “Winning with a new partner was cool. I didn’t know it was going to be Grant. The first time we played together really was at the section tournament.”

Siegel, who also is Fox Chapel’s No. 1 singles player, said partnering with Fenton served each player well. During matches, they were able to score points in different ways.

“It was really fun playing with Grant,” Siegel said. “I was more offensive and he was more defensive. Both of us have a good net game.”

At WPIALs, Fenton and Siegel were seeded fifth. In the first round, the Fox Chapel duo beat Franklin Regional seniors Prem Nadesan and Arnesh Paura.

In the quarterfinals, Siegel and Fenton were tripped up by No. 4 Logan Memije and Troy Boden of Gateway. Both of the doubles duos Fenton and Siegel competed against were teams of seniors.

“I thought we played pretty well,” Siegel said. “We were a little off sync all day. There were some tough matchups for sure. Gateway was tough for us, but I think next year we’ll be better.”

Fox Chapel had another doubles team — senior Rocco Didomenico and sophomore Harrison Soose — that qualified and was seeded 14th. Didomenico and Soose lost to North Allegheny’s Shivum Telang and Ronit Ginde, 10-4, in the first round.

Shady Side Academy also had a pair of doubles teams qualify that were eliminated in the first round. Bulldogs freshman Thomas Luther and sophomore Brendan Huang were seeded eighth and lost to South Fayette’s Harshal Pallerla and Ani Garimella, 10-2.

Shady Side Academy second team was seeded 11th, consisting of seniors Kiran Tevar and Sam Kamin, and lost to Upper St. Clair’s Carter Lichtman and Myles Owens, 10-0.