The Allderdice Dragons are catching fire at the right time. The boys tennis team won four consecutive matches to improve to 9-1 in the regular season.
The Dragons have an impressive resume after defeating defending WPIAL Class 3A champion Gateway, along with Fox Chapel, Franklin Regional and numerous WPIAL opponents.
Their only loss was a 3-2 defeat against Shady Side Academy — a team they defeated last year and consistently compete against.
However, winning is a part of the tennis culture at Allderdice. The Dragons qualified for the WPIAL playoffs every season since 2012. Coach Keith Goldman has been coaching Allderdice since 2005. His teams found success in the City League until 2011 before moving into WPIAL competition.
The Dragons upset the No. 2 seed Peters Township in 2018, making a name for themselves in WPIAL play.
“We’ve had some really good players and a great tradition,” Goldman said. “We started making a name for ourselves when we made the semifinals about seven or eight years ago and lost in a tiebreaker in the third set to Shady Side Academy. That’s when we really started making a name for ourselves.”
This season, Allderdice competes in WPIAL Section 3 and plays in a combined subregion of Districts 9 and 10 for the postseason. From there, qualifiers advance to the PIAA tournament in Hershey.
Allderdice recently defeated Dubois, 5-0, winning each set and losing only two games.
Barak Raz, Alex Friedman and Kiran Arunachalam are the team’s top singles players. Raz recently made the finals at the Erie tournament but lost to David Mikotowicz from McDowell.
“They’re continuously improving year after year,” Goldman said. “We have a lot of juniors, and they work hard all year round. Some of them even gave up soccer to play tennis year-round so they could be ready in March. They’re all about the team. Even at practice they try to help each other get better. I couldn’t be more proud of their work ethic. What makes us strong isn’t just top players. It’s that we’re strong from one through seven. We don’t have a weakness.”
Their doubles teams include Will Kuchera and Ari Paris, and Liam Rosenberg and Xavier Hay.
“Doubles are extremely important,” Goldman said. “We stress poaching at practice. I do a lot of drills where they get short balls and they have to come in as a team. Both players understand that points need to end quickly in doubles. We work on all those things in practice and they know the importance of it because we stress it at practice all the time.”
Allderdice took home the Districts 8, 9, and 10 doubles title in Erie with Raz and Friedman running the gauntlet. The Dragons won the doubles title last year as well when Raz and Kuchera were victorious.
Goldman said that they’ve prioritized conditioning as they had many three-set matches last season. The practice has paid off as they’ve only lost one match thus far.
Goldman wants Allderdice to take practices seriously and to help and correct each other.
“I don’t want it to be a competition,” Goldman said. “I want it to be a team. Everything is about the team. It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s all about the team. Nothing is more important than that.”
Most importantly, Goldman wants the team to focus on mindset and tradition.
“I always talk to them about tradition,” he said. “We’ve had a couple players whose brothers played in previous years, so they know the culture as well. I’ve coached some of their brothers before, and it’s really about the mentality of doing whatever you can and refusing to lose. As I always say, whatever you can do to not lose. Don’t get rattled, and don’t let the other team see that you’re rattled. Do whatever you can to excel under pressure. I stress that a lot.”
The players are looking forward to competing at the state tournament.
“I think that’s all they’re talking about,” Goldman said. “We’ve got a strong parent group as well, and they’re just really excited. When you prepare for something and put in the work, the stress goes away. So I’d say it’s excitement, not nervousness. We’re prepared. They’ve worked really hard in the offseason and at practices. We have great work ethic and great teamwork, and it shows in our matches.”
The Dragons swept McDowell, 5-0, on Friday to set up a match with WPIAL runner-up Upper St. Clair on Tuesday in state playoffs.
Overall, Goldman said this team has had the most team chemistry he’s ever seen. He sees how tight-knit the team is at Allderdice.
“They work great as doubles teams, they communicate well, and a lot of it is because they’re all friends,” Goldman said. “Everyone just wants to help each other. It’s all about the team. It’s such a great group of young men. I couldn’t be more proud of them. They’re doing things that previous teams, even some really good ones I’ve had, never did in the last couple years, and I only have one senior, so the future looks very bright.”