Photos/Videos: Lennie Malmgren & Kiki Troilo

By: Kiki Troilo, Friends’ Central School

PHILADELPHIA- After an extensive season and a rain delay, the long awaited 2025 FSL Championship had finally arrived.

*See summaries below. Matches are in order of when the match finished*

The 1st doubles match started off strong for Shipley with a great drop shot from sophomore Keith Duncan. His partner, 8th grader Paul Mattis, continued hitting some very impressive returns just in the first game and it seemed as though there were no nerves from this young team.

That narrative completely shifted however with GFS senior veteran duo of Benedict Tessler and Joseph Helfrich becoming dominant on the court. The pair was fueled by the excitement of a very chatty Germantown fan base and took the first set pretty swiftly, 6-0. The match just seemed to go by in the blink of an eye and Tessler was just relentless at the baseline, hitting winner after winner. As two seniors, Helfrich and Tessler could not have played any better for their final FSL match. They took the match for GFS 6-0, 6-1 and were the first players off the court.

From the very start, both teams were already trying to hype up their fan bases. Leo Sun of Shipley vs. Trevor Zuercher of GFS was expected to be a good match after Sun took the win over Zuercher not too long ago in the regular season. It was evident that nerves were pretty high especially from Shipley’s sophomore star at GFS’s home court. Zuercher took the quick lead 4-1 and ended up taking the set for GFS 6-1. He was waiting out points and grinding with Sun until he spotted the right ball to take advantage of. The second set between the two was far more competitive but Sun was once again down, with the score of 4-2. At one point, Sun was really trying to fight back at 4-5 on serve, but Zuercher was playing a flawless game, earning him the break and the victory 6-1, 6-4.

Shipley’s 3rd singles match remained in control 4-1 and then 5-2, leading to 6-2, and it seemed as though Bekelmen was beginning to get frustrated by his performance. Bekelmen ended up taking a medical timeout, which took a good deal of time. This extended stoppage of play did not affect Knipe though, going up 3-0 and then 5-0. Knipe ended up taking the match 6-2, 6-1 with an incredible performance for the young player and making the match 2-1 with GFS leading.

With Shipley star Brody Ladda back in the game, there was no telling what could happen in this match. Ladda is simply an extraordinary player but it is still unclear about what his level of play is because of his ankle injury. Ladda started the match by trying to warm up his ankle nice and slow, especially during short court. Even from the very beginning of the battle, the two players had very competitive rallies, showing that this match was going to be a mental and physical fight from both athletes.

The second set started off strong with an impressive point, and Ladda with four amazing recoveries to win the point. However, Mather ended up breaking the first game, trying to set the tone. The two continued to go back and forth, leading to Ladda going up 3-2 then 4-3. Shipley’s No. 1 continued to fight with all of his energy and he took the second set 6-4 to bring the match to a deciding third set. Ladda then completely turned the tables, going up 4-1 and then fighting to win the match for his team 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. It was obvious when he left the court that he put everything he had into his match. Thanks to Ladda, he tied up the match score 2-2. At this point, it all came down to the second doubles match, who were at 3-2 with GFS up a break in the third set.

From the very start of the match, both pairs came out of the gate firing. Shipley’s duo Rhys Makai and Oliver Kourula used their net play strengths to their advantage. But Jack Abend and Kevin Li from GFS were also using their net play skills. Abend continued closing and poaching while Li kept up some fierce service games. It seemed like they were just too strong at the net but then Shipley picked up their level and showed off great volleying skills. Shipley took the first set 6-4 after a back and forth battle.

Things slowly became real for Shipley. As time passed, it appeared more likely that the match was going to come down to the 2nd doubles teams. Second doubles continued on serve 2-1 then 4-3 with Shipley in the lead. There were great gets from both teams and they shared some very tight points. They continued on serve 4-4 but then the momentum shifted because of Germantown breaking Shipley’s serve to take the set 6-4 and bring the match to a deciding third set.

At this point, the total match score was tied up 2-2 and 2nd doubles was officially the decider. It all came down to this and the nerves were even higher because the crowd had moved over to the fence by the match.

Germantown took the fast lead 4-2 but then Shipley broke GFS’s serve to tie it up at 4-4. GFS then stunned the audience again by breaking serve to go up 5-4 and serve for the match. The final game went back and forth with multiple deuce points. Shipley had many opportunities to break and tie it up again, but they were just unable to close the points. After a long marathon game, Abend and Li took the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to win the 2025 FSL Championship for Germantown Friends.

After the title match concluded, GFS head coach Chris Booth and doubles player Benedict Tessler were both very happy with the teams’ performance and noted that this championship meant a lot to them. Tessler has been on a winning team consistently and although this was not his first title with GFS, he said it was just as important to him as all the other titles.

However, Tessler and Germantown Friends’ season is far from over because the PAISAA tournament (Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association), also known as states, is currently underway. GFS still has a chance to win yet another title and add another trophy to their case and will play Penn Charter this afternoon with a chance to meet with Inter-Ac co-champion Episcopal Academy in the PAISAA semifinals on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at EA.

Evidently, Tessler is a team player and always wants the best for his teammates. He is selfless in the respect that even if he doesn’t win his match, he gets right back out there to support his friends and that is a true quality of a leader.

As the FSL season is drawn to a close, it is important for athletes to reflect on the high moments of their season. The Friends League was very competitive this year between all teams. Even though Germantown took the title this year, Shipley had an incredible season too. It was a hard fought loss for the Shipley team and they deserve a lot of credit for their effort. In the end, the 2025 FSL season was certainly a memorable one and congratulations to all the teams for another incredible season in the books.