North Catholic’s Nicolas Scheller storms into PIAA semifinals

By: Tribune-Review
Friday, May 28, 2021 | 10:02 PM

North Catholic’s Nicolas Scheller continued his dominant run through the tennis postseason Friday in Hershey.

The junior won his first two matches in the PIAA Class 2A single tournament in convincing fashion, advancing to Saturday’s semifinals with relative ease.

Scheller defeated Pequea Valley’s Brady Burns, 6-0, 6-1, and Bethlehem Catholic’s Curtis Gruber, 6-1, 6-1.

Counting the sectional, WPIAL and state tournaments, Scheller has played 10 postseason matches. He has won 112 games and lost 11, never more than one in a set.

Scheller is one of two WPIAL singles competitors and two doubles teams still in the hunt for a state championship.

In Class 3A singles, it’s the WPIAL runner-up, Colin Gramley of Shady Side Academy, still alive. Grmaley knocked off the top seed, District 1 champ Alex Sterin of Council Rock South, 6-4, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.

Both WPIAL champion doubles teams also reached the semifinals.

In Class 3A, Franklin Regional’s Anup Nadesan and Advait Kulkarni prevailed in a first-round battle with Downingtown East’s Abhiraj and Abhineet Srivastava, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, then rolled through the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 win over LaSalle College’s Jordan and Julian Paris.

In Class 2A, South Park’s Joe Toth and Ethan Bowden picked up a pair of victories in straight sets. They topped Adam Warren and Tommy Hallahan of District 3’s Trinity, 6-3, 6-4, and Jesse Coulter and Tim Spinosa of Allentown Central Catholic, 6-2, 6-3.

The semifinal matches are set for Saturday morning – 8 a.m. in Class 2A and 10:30 in Class 3A – with the finals to follow at 1 and 3:30 p.m.