Gateway boys tennis concludes season with PIAA singles, doubles medals

By: Michael Love
Sunday, June 2, 2024 | 11:01 AM

In a way, it was déjà vu for Gateway in the PIAA Class 3A doubles tournament at the Hershey Racquet Club.

Last year, the Gators team of Zidaan Hassan and Adam Memije made it to the semifinals where the duo fell to the twin-brother combination of Aidan and Tyler Mahaffey from Palmyra in District 3 before rebounding to win a consolation match and finish third.

On May 25, Hassan, a junior, and sophomore Logan Memije found themselves on the court with the Mahaffey twins, both seniors, in a battle to see who would advance to the championship match.

Things started well for Hassan and Memije who built a 4-1 lead in the first set. But the Mahaffey’s rallied to take the set, 7-5, before winning the second set, 6-1, to close out the match.

Hassan and Memije came back and rolled past District 11 champions Luke Appleman and Roman Farhad, seniors from Liberty, 6-2, 6-1, to earn bronze.

“I am glad those twins are seniors,” Gateway coach Matt Stockunas said. “They are such good players together. Once they got on a role, they play unbelievable tennis. They are playing doubles together in college. Talking to their parents and coach, they said that when they saw the bracket, they were a little bit nervous because of the possibility of meeting up with Zidaan and Logan in the semis. They felt that was the only competition to keep them from a three-peat.”

The Mahaffeys did, in fact, three-peat. They lost just seven games in their other three matches combined en route to another state title.

“But Adam and Logan played great tennis the whole tournament,” Stockunas said. “They were dominating except for playing the twins. In my heart of hearts, I hope they get the chance to win gold next year. Who knows what could happen next year with pairings and who advances to what. We’ll have to see how that all shakes out.”

While Hassan and Logan Memije were going after laurels in the doubles tournament, Adam Memije hoped to make his mark in the PIAA singles tournament.

Memije, the WPIAL runner-up, rolled to straight-set wins against a pair of opponents from District 1 before meeting up with District 1 champion Brian Yi, a senior from Lower Merion, in the semifinals.

Memije won the first set against Yi and was up 5-4 when Yi broke his serve.

Yi took a 6-5 lead before Memije rallied to tie the set and send it to a tiebreaker. Yi then won the tiebreaker, 7-2, to send the match to a third and deciding set.

Yi, a Johns Hopkins commit, took control in the third set to win 6-2, and claim the overall match victory.

“It was tough,” Stockunas said. “Adam really had him, and there were a couple of tough calls here and there and things like that. It wasn’t like it was four straight points. In those games, it was deuce, and they were back and forth.

“Adam played really well. It might have been one of the best performances I’ve seen of him. He was upset that he didn’t pull it off in that second set, and then he just ran out of gas in that third set. They played for nearly three hours.”

Memije ended up fourth overall as he fell 6-3, 6-1 in the consolation match.

“He was also pretty beat for that consolation final,” Stockunas said. “If you ask him, he would say he didn’t play at his peak in the consolation. But finishing fourth in the state is not a bad thing, and I know he will come back next year looking to win gold along with Zidaan and Logan.”

Stockunas said Memije learned a lot from a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Yi at No. 1 singles in Gateway’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Lower Merion, the District 1 champion, in the PIAA team tournament in Hershey one week earlier.

“Lower Merion was a very tough team,” Stockunas said. “It seems out east, they don’t rebuild, they reload. Their doubles teams all have USTA scores. They were just really, really good.”

Lower Merion swept the doubles matches and Yi’s win over Adam Memije at No. 1 singles helped clinch the victory. The No. 2 and No. 3 singles matches did not finish.

“Our second doubles (senior Blake Marsh and sophomore Troy Boden) played strong and had their team in deuce a lot,” Stockunas said. “They just couldn’t close the deal. But they were pretty competitive even though the score didn’t necessarily show it.

“Adam just had an off day against Yi, and we weren’t able to pull off the win.”

The state quarterfinal match was the final one for a trio of seniors — Boden and the No. 1 doubles combination of Matt Bandos and Zane Almoukamal.

“Their growth from the 2023 season to the 2024 season was absolutely great,” Stockunas said. “They will be tough to replace. They provided strong leadership. We have some young kids who will work hard and will be ready to step in and hopefully fill those roles.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway