BOYS TENNIS: Abington Heights and Wyoming Seminary teams earn gold medals in District 2 Doubles Championships

S. ABINGTON TWP. – It is never easy for Abington Heights boys’ tennis coach Art Comstock to have players opposing each other vying for a District 2 title and a trip to the state championship tournament.

No matter how many times he must sit through the scenario, which has become more common than one might think, it is agonizing.

On Thursday afternoon, however, Comstock had an extra burden to carry as he watched from the observation deck at Birchwood Racquet Club.

Abington Heights’ top-seeded doubles team of William Arp and Liam Farrell faced off against the brother team of Brady and Bryce Comstock, Coach Comstock’s sons, for the Class 3A gold.

Talent and competitive spirit were on full display. Both teams fought for every point, executed as a tandem, and showed massive bursts of emotion in an edge-of-your-seat showdown between four of the top tennis players in the district.

It only seemed fitting that the intense battle came down to a third-set tiebreaker. In the end, Arp and Farrell earned a hard-fought victory, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (2), to give Abington Heights a clean sweep of the team, singles, and doubles championships this postseason.

“There is a lot of pride involved, because both teams played phenomenal tennis, probably one of the best district doubles matches I’ve ever seen in all of my years coaching and playing tennis,” Coach Comstock said after comforting his sons and congratulating his champions. “It was really high-level tennis. Both teams were excellent all the way around.

“The only disservice is that only one team gets to go to states.”

In the Class 2A final contested on an opposite court, Wyoming Seminary’s pairing of Stefan Zecar and Dhru Sudhakar captured the gold, outlasting the top-seeded team of Alex Harrison and Ray Zhang of Holy Cross, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

“It was awesome,” said Zecar, who won his second straight district crown after teaming with Billy Hall to win in 2025. “Playing with Dhru, he is only a freshman, so this was great. We came back from down a set, and this is one of the greatest wins of my season.”

Both finals were entertaining and filled with momentum swings and drama.

In Class 3A, Arp and Farrell, the No. 1 seed, defeated Crestwood’s Sean Rossi, 6-0, 6-0, and the Comstock brothers beat Valley View’s Nick Burak and Billy Giovagnoli, 6-0, 6-1, to set up an all-Abington Heights doubles final for the fifth straight season.

The Comstock brothers gained the early upper hand, using their power to their advantage in a 5-7 victory.

Faced with the pressure to respond, Arp, the Comets’ No. 2 singles player for the last three seasons and a doubles champion two years ago when he teamed with Domenic Peters, and Farrell came back by executing at critical points in a 6-4 win to even the match.

The team of Arp and Farrell carried their confidence into the third and deciding set. They built a 5-2 lead.

Then, the Comstocks came storming back to lock up the set 5-5. They split the next two points, with several going to deuce. In the tiebreaker, Arp and Farrell built a 5-1 lead. The Comstocks fought, but the lead was too imposing.

“I went through this last year, playing teammates, but this year I was actually playing my doubles partner,” said Farrell, who was partners this season with his opponent, Bryce Comstock, and a District 2 champion with Brady Comstock in 2024. “It was hard. We had to adapt, and it made us stronger.

“We were up 5-2, but when Brady and Bryce came back, we knew that we had to fight for every point, and we were able to win. This means everything to me.”

For Arp, it was a victory of redemption after falling in the district finals in the last two seasons and the doubles final in 2025.

“I think last year, after winning in my freshman year, I didn’t come in with as much fight,” Arp said. “This year, having lost last season, I think I did a better job of not getting ahead of myself. We kept that mentality that it is never over until it is over.

“Liam and I haven’t played a lot recently, and there were some difficulties early bringing our two games together. But we used to play doubles, and we are such good friends. This is a dream come true for us. It is really special.”

In the Class 2A semifinals, Harrison and Zhang defeated Holy Redeemer’s Frank Klimovitz and Daniel Dudrick, 6-3, 6-3, and Zecar and Sudhakar beat Dallas’ Nate Linnen and Theo Barr, 6-1, 6-0.

Holy Cross’ team of Harrison and Zhang, the No. 1 seed, rolled to a 6-2 win in the first set.

Zecar and Sudhakar, who have been key players in Wyoming Seminary’s runs to the Wyoming Valley Conference and District 2 Class 2A team titles, came back and drew even with a 6-4 win in the second.

“I was telling Dhru that I believed in him and to believe in me,” Zecar said. “It was very intense.”

Harrison and Zhang appeared headed for victory after building a 3-1 advantage. Zecar and Sudhakar, a semifinalist in the district singles tournament, came all the way back for a 6-4 victory.

“It was a really tight match, and we lost the first set, but then we came back and were really hyped,” Sudhakar said. “The third set was really close the entire time. There were a couple of critical points we had to win, and we did. We are really happy.”