Here's who's set to meet Sunday at in Sunday's Boys Tennis Singles and Doubles title matches
Camden DiChiara’s road to his second straight RIIL Boys Tennis Singles State Championship was a little easier this year than last, but his opponent didn’t have any trouble finding his way to Sunday’s final either.
Ponaganset’s Josh Steere was the tournament’s top seed and proved why over two days of play, losing one only game on Friday and earning his spot in Sunday’s final with a 6-2, 6-4 win over La Salle’s Andrew Smith.
He’ll face DiChiara, the Lincoln senior who’s making his second straight appearance in the final. Last spring DiChiara, an All-Stater for the Lions’ basketball team, played three three-set matches just to reach the final, where he lost in three sets to Hendricken’s Jack Ciunci. This time around, DiChiara managed to reach the final with four straight sets wins.
On the doubles side, the story was East Greenwich brothers Dan and Liam Levy, who scrapped their way through the bottom half of the bracket, beating Division I team after Division I team to earn a spot in Sunday’s final.
They’ll take on Barrington’s Gabe Anderson and Bryce Kupperman, the tourney’s top seed and the defending state champs, who breezed to the final with relative ease.
Steere’s dominant run to the final started Friday, with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Cranston East No. 3 Jake Sigler and followed by a 6-0, 6-1 win over Middletown No. 1 Easton Heroux.
Saturday morning, Steere found himself up against Mount St. Charles All-Stater Ted Bielecki, but was in control from the start and cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win. Up against Smith – who had a three-set win over Mount freshman Reyhan Kamal in his morning quarterfinal – Steere remained on point and picked up a 6-2, 6-4 win.
DiChiara didn’t run through the bottom half of the bracket with the same sort of ease, but never gave an inkling of an idea that he wasn’t reaching the final.
Friday he took out Cranston West’s Mason Harris, 6-1, 6-2, in his first match and followed it with a 6-1, 6-4 win over South Kingstown’s Elliot Roman.
In Saturday’s quarterfinal, DiChiara dispatched Moses Brown’s Derek Chen, 6-3, 6-3, earning matching with Barrington’s Luke Sapolsky, a junior who reached his third semifinal after a three-set win over La Salle’s Joe Cavanagh.
DiChiara’s game didn’t slip against Sapolsky as he picked up the 6-3, 6-3 win and earning a spot in Sunday’s final as he tries to be the first Lincoln player to win a title since Tom Evans in 1988. He’ll face Steere, who will attempt to be the first Ponaganset player to win the crown since Mark Santucci in 2002.
Anderson and Kupperman also have a chance to make some history as they try to become the first duo since South Kingstown’s Mike Collins and Pat Shaugnessy to win the state doubles crown.
The Barrington duo cruised to the finals. They won their only match Friday, 6-0, 6-0, then beat teammates Justin Kuo and Garrett Meehan, 6-3, 6-4, to earn a spot in the semifinals.
In the semis, Anderson and Kupperman downed North Kingstown’s No. 2 team of Aaron Montoya and Constantin Reinecke, 6-0, 6-3.
In the bottom half of the bracket, the Levy brothers stole the show. The East Greenwich No. 1 team beat La Salle’s Andrew D’Artista and Ryan Coffey, 6-1, 6-2, in their first match Friday.
They continued to beat D-I teams on Saturday, beating South Kingstown’s Jeffrey Hill and Jayce Plonsky, 6-3, 6-0, in the quarters before taking down Barrington’s No. 2 team of Henry Birbiglia and Zac Speak, 6-4, 7-6 (8) in the semifinals.
Both championship matches are set for Sunday at 12 p.m. at Slater Park.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RIIL Boys Tennis Singles and Doubles Championship matchups Sunday at Slater
