Well, the sun came out — if only for a few hours on Saturday — and the always exciting rivalry match between Scranton Prep and Abington Heights was finally held.

Due to three straight days of being postponed, I was unable to attend the clash for the first time in a long time. In a recap, Scranton Prep won the match, 4-1, taking all three singles matches, which included a couple of grueling battles, and the No. 1 doubles match to surge to the top of the Lackawanna League standings.

Scranton Prep 4, Abington Heights 1

Habeeb

Singles: Jack Habeeb (SP) over Timmy Christman, 6-4, 6-2; Rhys Kelly (SP) defeats Owen Holland 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5); Matt Tressler (SP) over Rory Harris, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

Doubles: Jesse Farley-Daniel Zych (SP) over Chris Hobbie-Sam Weis, 6-4, 7-6 (6); Arjun Iyengar-Varun Iyengar (AH) over Harrison Oven-Addi Singh, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Records: SP 12-1, AH 11-2.

Now, Abington Heights, barring a monumental upset when Scranton Prep plays at Riverside on Monday, has been eliminated from contention for the Lackawanna League championship.

That means another streak has come to an end in this year of change.

From 2010 to , the Lackawanna League crowned two champions in tennis. Then, coaches voted to make this a one champion league and to be honest, that is not only admirable, but refreshing. There is something to be said about that in this era of what essentially amounts to conference realignment to reward for participation. That’s a discussion for another post. But, the tennis coaches should be applauded for making their regular season mean something.

This will be the first season since 2009 that Abington Heights will not be a league champion in boys tennis.

Here is a list of the champions since 2010:

	Division I	Division II
2010	Abington Heights (10-0)	Scranton Prep (8-0)
2011	Abington Heights (12-0)	Scranton Prep (11-0)
2012	Abington Heights (12-0)	Scranton Prep (11-0)

2013	Abington Heights (14-0)
2014	Abington Heights (14-0)
2015	Abington Heights (14-0)
2016	Abington Heights (14-0)
2017	Abington Heights (14-0)

Chase for the Championship

Scranton Prep is still in the hunt for the title. The Cavaliers, as mentioned earlier, finish the season at Riverside. Delaware Valley, which outlasted Western Wayne, 3-2, still has a rescheduled match to play at North Pocono on Monday, and will also play Monday at Valley View.

That’s a doubleheader for the Road Warriors, who have to travel at least an hour into Archbald for the 4 p.m. match against the Cougars, then on the way home will have a layover in Moscow (ours not Russia’s) and play the Trojans on the way home.

Here is a look at the Lackawanna League standings before Saturday’s outcomes:

If both teams finish 13-1 there will likely be a playoff match for the Lackawanna League title. That will probably have to be shoehorned in. Why?

The expanded District 2 team playoffs begin May 2. Mike Ognosky, the tennis guru, still has his work cut out for him in terms of seeding especially because earning a league championship also locks down a top seed for the team tournament.

Here is a look at the District 2 standings before Saturday’s outcomes:

RANKINGS

It was a frantic week with a lot of league matches being played, several others still postponed and needed to be rescheduled and another shift in the Top 5 teams.

There is a new No. 1, again. Take a look.

TOP 5 TEAMS

No.	Team	Record	Pvs
1	Delaware Valley	11—1	1
2	Scranton Prep	12—1	4
3	Holy Cross	11—2	5
4	Abington Heights	11—2	2
5	Valley View	10—3	1

Others: Western Wayne (7-6).

Lenny Maiocco

TOP 5 PLAYERS

Western Wayne’s Lenny Maiocco takes over at No. 1 after a straight-sets win over Delaware Valley’s Tomas Reese. Maiocco is still undefeated at No. 1 singles in the Lackawanna League and appears headed to the top seed for the District 2 Class 2A singles tournament.

Scranton Prep’s Jack Habeeb is getting back into a groove after a straight-sets win over No. 2 Timmy Christman last week.

NOTE: SEEDING MEETING – Singles & Doubles 7 P.M. Thursday, May 3rd @ Dunmore High School

No.	Name	School	Record
1	Lenny Maiocco	Western Wayne	13—0
2	Tomas Reese	Delaware Valley	9—1
3	Jack Habeeb	Scranton Prep	10–3
4	Timmy Christman	Abington Heights	10–3
5	Logan Gregory	Holy Cross	10—3

Others: Rhys Kelly (Scranton Prep, 13-0 at No. 2); Alex Riccio (Dunmore, 7-5 at No. 1); Camus Howie (Holy Cross, 11-2 at No. 2); Curry Chang (Holy Cross, 13-0 at No. 3).

LEAGUE RECORDS

Here are the singles records for players in the Lackawanna League through April 29.

CLASS 3A

Abington Heights		Delaware Valley		North Pocono
Timmy Christman	10–3	Tomas Reese	9–1	Tim Pickarski	1–9
Owen Holland	11–2	Ivan Vorobyev	0–1	Josh Danna	1–9
Rory Harris	9–2	Joe Norieka	8–3	Nikhil Patel	1–3
Sam Weis	2–0	Pete Wilson	4–0	Eric Wolfe	2–5
		Abhay Byadgi	5–2	Vince Cianfichi	0–1
				Andrew Zero	0–1
Scranton		Wallenpaupack		West Scranton
Naitik Butani	1–8	Simon Altizio	2–4	Alex Sophabmixay	3–8
Harsh S. Patel	5–5	John Squatrito	2–8	Blake Sophabmixay	2–8
Punjan Patel	0–3	Charlie Washburn	3–8	Nico Pugliese	4–7
Mit Patel	6–2	Matt Katz	2–4	Tony Pugliese	0-1

CLASS 2A

Dunmore		Holy Cross		Honesdale
Alex Riccio	7–5	Logan Gregory	10–3	Jason Demers	7–5
Seth Reyes	6–6	Camus Howie	11–2	Nick Theobald	2–9
Max Burke	5–7	Curry Chang	13–0	Ethan Rickard	3–9
				Shea Stanton	1–0
Mid Valley		Montrose		Riverside
Demitri Reece	3–8	Bill Hotaling	0–11	Noah Jennings	2–10
Christian Reece	8–3	Steven Vetri	3–8	Kyle Creedon	3–9
Jason Kline	2–4	Jackson Griffiths	0–3	Hunter Talipski	3–7
Matt Fedorka	0–3	Kyle McGranaghan	1–8	Charles Ponas	1–1
Mike Melesky	0–2	Tracy Kerr	0–1
		Seth Bulkley	0–1
Scranton Prep		Valley View		Western Wayne
Jack Habeeb	10–3	Carlo Possanza	9–4	Lenny Maiocco	13–0
Rhys Kelly	13–0	Ryan Carrotto	8–5	Dominic Corma	6–7
Matt Tressler	11–2	Kevin Duffy	10–3	Matthew Leslie	5–8

SCHEDULE

MONDAY

Scranton at Montrose
Scranton Prep at Riverside
Wallenpaupack at North Pocono
Western Wayne at Honesdale
West Scranton at Mid Valley
Holy Cross at Dunmore
Abington Heights at Riverside
Delaware Valley at Valley View
Delaware Valley at North Pocono, 6:30