Belle Vernon’s Max Henson dominates state to win PIAA Class 2A tennis title

By: Triblive
Saturday, May 24, 2025 | 7:40 PM

One of the more accomplished junior players in the state, Belle Vernon’s Max Henson decided to play high school tennis for the first time this season.

The rest of the PIAA wishes he hadn’t.

Belle Vernon doesn’t have a tennis team, but it does have a state champion as Henson sliced through the Class 2A bracket with four straight-set victories to claim a PIAA title Saturday.

A junior who has committed to play his college tennis at Cleveland State, Henson won the championship with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over District 12 champion Samir Roberts-Mouzon of Carver Engineering & Science.

Henson was even more dominant in the semifinals, dispatching District 11 champion Deven Pandey of Saucon Valley, 6-1, 6-0.

Add in his victories from the first two rounds Friday and Henson, the WPIAL champion, defeated three district champs and lost a total of only eight games in his four matches at states.

Henson was the only WPIAL representative to claim gold Saturday.

In Class 3A singles, WPIAL runner-up Advaita Sircar of North Allegheny rolled into the finals with a dominant 6-0, 6-1 win over District 1 champion Ethan Sun of Conestoga but fell to District 3 champ Chase Gerloff of Daniel Boone, 7-6 (1), 6-3, in the finals.

WPIAL Class 2A doubles champs Jonah Jasek and Steven Duing of South Park also took silver. They beat Truman Peters and Aaron Andrews of Wyomissing in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-3, but dropped a three-set final to District 3 champs Armaan Malik and Jio Garcia of Conrad Weiser, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

In Class 3A doubles, the Gateway tandem of Zidaan Hassan and Logan Memije lost 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals to Cooper Lehman and Braylen Garcia of Landisville Hempfield but bounced back to beat Nathan Dolgushev and Charlie Bittinger of Lower Merion in the third-place match, 6-2, 6-4.

Tags: Belle Vernon