North Allegheny boys tennis is so strong this season that the No. 3 singles player for the Tigers is the No. 2 singles player in the WPIAL.
“I don’t know that that’s ever really happened before,” coach Matt Woffington said. “It just shows the depth that we have. When your No. 3 guy comes in second in the entire WPIAL, that’s pretty good.”
The Tigers are pretty great this season.
With a stacked lineup that includes a two-time WPIAL singles champion, the WPIAL doubles champions and the singles runner-up, North Allegheny is putting together a historic season.
The WPIAL Class 3A champion Tigers (18-0) opened the PIAA playoffs with a 3-0 victory against District 3 Dallastown (16-6) on May 12 at Shaler.
North Allegheny was scheduled to face District 1 runner-up Central Bucks East in the PIAA quarterfinals May 15 at Hershey Racquet Club. The match ended after the deadline for this edition.
“We’ve had a great season so far,” said Woffington, in his third season at his alma mater, “but we know it gets real tough real fast out there.”
The Tigers are seeking their first PIAA title since 2009, when Woffington’s father, John, was wrapping up his 600-win Hall of Fame coaching career with the Tigers.
North Allegheny already has won every gold medal the WPIAL has to offer.
When the Tigers routed No. 2 seed Upper St. Clair, 5-0, for the WPIAL Class 3A championship on May 5, they became only the third program in the past 75 years to sweep the WPIAL singles, doubles and team titles. The other teams to pull off the rare trifecta were Gateway last season and North Allegheny in 2001.
“It’s incredible,” said senior No. 3 singles player Evan Kaufman, who reached the WPIAL finals as a No. 6 seed before losing to top-seeded junior teammate Advaita Sircar in an all-North Allegheny singles championship. “It was definitely one of the goals going into the season.”
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ No. 2 singles player, newcomer Ashwin Sudhakar, teamed with senior Matt Kampi to win the WPIAL doubles championship in their first season playing high school tennis together.
Sircar breezed to his second WPIAL Class 3A singles title in three years, beating Kaufman 6-2, 6-1, in the finals. They were the first teammates to play for the WPIAL Class 3A singles crown since a Shady Side Academy duo in 1998-99.
Two weeks later, the Tigers’ top-seeded tandem of Kampi and Sudhakar claimed the WPIAL doubles championship. Neither of them played last season on the Tigers’ 16-3 WPIAL runner-up.
“They definitely completed the lineup in a way that we really haven’t been able to fill the past couple of years,” Kaufman said. “They were two huge additions.”
Kampi returned this spring after training away from high school the past two seasons, while Sudhakar, ranked No. 8 in the state, joined the Tigers for the first time.
“I’ve been bugging (Sudhakar) for three years (to join the team),” Woffington said. “He’s very good friends with Matthew Kampi. I think those two just made a little pact that they wanted to come out and give it their best shot and try to make a run in doubles. … It all kind of fell into place.”
The Tigers have relied on both star power and unsung players during a season that saw them go a combined 86-2 in game scores entering the PIAA quarterfinals.
Sircar, a Navy recruit, didn’t lose a set at No. 1 singles, and the unheralded No. 2 doubles team of juniors Ronit Ginde and Shivum Telang was 13-0 this season, 24-1 in the past two years.
Sudhakar is unbeaten at No. 2 singles since assuming that spot in late March, and Kaufman also is perfect in singles play entering the state quarterfinals.
At No. 1 doubles, senior Adhav Ramadas, a four-year starter, and Kampi carried an 11-match winning streak into states.
“It finally just came together for all of us this year,” said Kaufman, who will play at Case Western. “It’s been really fun.”
Sircar, Kaufman and the Kampi/Sudhakar duo will return to Hershey for the PIAA Class 3A singles and doubles championships May 22-23.
Sircar is trying to join Tom Liebenguth (1976) as the only PIAA singles champions from North Allegheny. Sircar lost in the finals last season to Daniel Boone sophomore sensation Chase Gerloff, 7-6 (1), 6-3. But Gerloff, a national top-50 player and five-star recruit, isn’t competing in PIAA tennis this season.
Sircar was 25-0 in singles matches entering the PIAA quarterfinals with a combined game score of 264-14.
“He’s unbelievable,” Woffington said. “He is just getting bigger and stronger. He’s really cut down on the unforced errors, and his serve has gotten so much more powerful than it even was. I think some kids go in there, and they just know they can’t beat him. They get to warm-ups, and they know they are in for it.”