The District One 3A tennis doubles tournament took place in Springfield on Friday and Saturday.
Central Bucks East freshman Sal Ponamgi and sophomore Alan Zhang took home bronze medals, and earned a slot in the PIAA tournament in the process.
Ponamgi and Zhang, the tournament’s second seed, clinched one of the five state slots late Friday when they defeated WC Henderson’s Zach Evans and Patrick Sinnott 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. The Patriots duo lost in the tournament semifinals on Saturday, but rebounded to defeat No. 5 Andrew Ou and Andy Ye of Unionville 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in the third-place game.
In other local performances, CB East underclassmen Seth Patel and Jerry Cheng won their first-round match 6-3, 6-3 over Great Valley’s Josh Verano and Jimmy Xiao before the two Patriots fell in the second round.
Quakertown brothers Max and Ben Arkans also won their first-round match, 6-3, 6-2, over Radnor’s Max Spillerman and William Shi before bowing out in the second round.
Council South’s Sam Kautsky and Alex Polak lost 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round to Owen J. Roberts’ Talan Nguyen and Jack Sawicki.
PIAA doubles start on May 24 at the Hershey Racquet Club.
Ponamgi and Zheng got an early glimpse at the Racquet Club on Tuesday. CB East earned its first team states berth and knocked off District Three champion Dallastown 3-2 in first-round action in Hershey. Patel and Cheng and Aaron Rose and Fedir Knyazkov won the two doubles points and Devin Yang won the third singles point 7-5, 6-3.
The CB East team is back in quarterfinal action in Hershey against Downingtown East on May 17.
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