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Boys’ Tennis: La Salle Advances To The PCL Championship With Win Over Roman Catholic

By Angelise Stuhl , 04/28/16, 5:45PM EDT

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WYNDMOOR, PA – For the tenth consecutive year, the La Salle Explorers have a chance to win yet another Philadelphia Catholic League Championship. Yesterday afternoon, the Explorers dominated visiting Roman Catholic in a 5-0 victory. 

To say that the Explorers have a “pretty impressive” tennis resume would be an understatement. For starters, La Salle has been crowned the PCL title since 2007. The past five years, the team has been reigning District 12 City Champions - and to top that - La Salle has maintained an unblemished PCL regular season record for 14 seasons. 

PCL Semifinals: Team Introductions

Explorers’ head coach, Gerard Brett, explains just how his talented group of young men maintain their success year after year.

“We really push a team approach, which is not always the case in tennis because you are out there on an island,” said coach Brett. “And I think there is just a culture here of winning. We have nine straight PCL titles and five Philadelphia City Championships and I think that trickles down to the underclassmen and they take that work ethic when they get on the court.” 

This Monday, La Salle will play St. Joseph’s Prep in the PCL Championship match at Chestnut Hill College at 3:00PM. The Prep has 16 PCL tennis titles of their own and the two powerhouses are familiar foes in the championship match-up. 

“We always get a tough fight out of them (St. Joe’s Prep). In some ways it’s silly, but there’s no love loss between both schools,” said coach Brett. “The first time we met in the regular season we won 4-1, but the first and second doubles went into three sets. So quite honestly, it could have gone either way. Our guys know that work ethic wise, if they focus, that they will give it their all and hopefully get a positive outcome.”

La Salle's A. Lutschaunig talks about how he had to adjust his game while playing Roman's S. Lipinski

Roman’s Student Body President & 2nd singles player M. Hopkins leaves advice for his underclassman teammates

For Roman Catholic, the PCL season has come to an unwanted end. Despite the loss, the Cahillites have had a recent celebratory victory to end their season on a high note.

“I was really happy two days ago when we defeated Cardinal O’Hara 4-1, which was a big improvement compared to our regular season win over O’Hara. I always like to compare playoff results to regular season results against the same team,” said Roman’s head coach Patrick Shanahan.

Shanahan went on to commend La Salle and his own team for showing constant improvement throughout the season.  

“La Salle is the defending champ, the perennial champ and certainly it’s nothing to be ashamed of to lose to La Salle,” said Shanahan. “I’m proud of my players for sticking with the team all season and getting better. They were having fun competing and are developing good friendships. They came to practice religiously and I am very happy with them.”

Roman’s top three singles players Sebastian Lipinski, Michael Hopkins and Leland Thompson are all graduating seniors. Shanahan noted two underclassmen who he is hoping will make an impact next season.

“I’m very happy with freshman, Patrick Phang, I’m looking forward to his career. He has really good strokes. George Coffey, our doubles player, is only a sophomore,” said Shanahan. “We will need our existing players to improve because losing all three top singles players is tough for a tennis team.”

Next week, Roman will have one last non-league match against Masterman (TBD) with their full line-up. Going forward coach Shanahan will say his final goodbyes to his seniors and will have a few end-of-season practices with his returning underclassmen. 

1st Singles – Andrew Lutschaunig (LCHS) vs. Sebastian Lipinski (RC) – A. Lutschaunig wins 6-1,6-1

2nd Singles – Jared Bunch (LCHS) vs. Michael Hopkins (RC) – J.Bunch wins 6-1,6-4

3rd Singles – Michael DeAngelis (LCHS) vs. Leland Thompson (RC) – M. DeAngelis wins 6-2,6-1

1st Doubles – Luke DeAngelis & Russell Newell (LCHS) vs. George Coffey & Joe Brighter (RC) – L. DeAngelis & R. Newell win 6-0,6-0

2nd Doubles – Hugh Farris & Matthew Bahr (LCHS) vs. Mario Millares & Patrick Phang (RC) – H. Farris & M. Bahr win 6-1,6-1