HERSHEY — Lancaster Country Day’s Freddie Bloom and Michael Georgelis received gold medals Saturday. They just didn’t get them the way they would have liked.
A great matchup was scheduled against their teammates, Carson Weigle and Julian Clark, for the District Three Class 2A boys tennis doubles title at Hershey Racquet Club. But with Weigle experiencing back issues, it was decided they wouldn’t play and defaulted.
“It’s obviously disappointing,” said Bloom. “I obviously hope Carson feels better. ... I understand why Carson made the decision.”
Bloom and Georgelis came into the tournament as the top seeds and ran roughshod over the opponents they did play, including a 6-0, 6-1 semifinal win Saturday that included just their second game lost in three matches.
“Freddie’s a good player and we play very well together,” said Georgelis. “I think as we keep playing, we will get even better chemistry together.”
Country Day coach Chris Wilson pointed to several factors in the decision for Weigle and Clark to default. First, there was Weigle’s health in general after a grueling three-set semifinal. Second, both teams had already qualified for the PIAA doubles tournament. And the Cougars have a match Tuesday in the state team tournament.
“Obviously, we would have loved to see them both play,” Wilson said. “We see them play every day in practice so I know how good of a match it could be. But just for safety, coming off a three-set match and knowing we have (the state team tournament) on the horizon, it was the right decision to make.”
The semifinal for the third-seeded Weigle and Clark, a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over No. 2 seeds Armaan Malik and Jio Garcia of Conrad Weiser, followed a recurring theme in this year’s doubles tournament. It was one of nine three-set matches.
Their match, along with one of the Class 3A semifinals, lasted over two hours. The other two semis? They finished in about half the time.
So with Weigle feeling a twinge in his back during one of his many powerful serves in the marathon match, all the Cougars involved decided discretion was the better part of valor.
Both doubles teams will be in action May 26-27 at HRC, after they compete in the team tournament, beginning Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. at HRC against District Seven fourth-place finisher Chartiers Valley.
Bloom and Georgelis have only been playing together for a few matches, but seem to be making a good team.
“I’ve been playing with Nile for like three years,” said Bloom, referring to Nile Abadir, the Cougars’ No. 1 singles who won the district 2A title last weekend. “Michael and I just started playing. ... So we played a lot of practice matches in preparation for this.”
“He hits a lot of cool, big forehands, so that’s always kind of fun; I like to watch that go by opponents,” said Bloom. “His serve’s good and he’s a good guy, so I enjoy playing with him.”
In the Class 3A final, Palmyra’s Aidan and Tyler Mahaffey defeated Cumberland Valley’s Sami Kazi and Ross Kluger 6-3, 6-1.
Results of the third-place matches were not available.
