Berks tennis: Frenchman wins men’s singles title in Hits for Hope tourney

The week-long 14th annual Conrad Weiser Hits for Hope Tennis Tournament wrapped up Sunday with Tom Hagelauer of Toulouse, France, winning the men’s singles title.

Hagelauer, who just finished his collegiate career at Mercer University, defeated Dominic Suwak 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match.

Suwak advanced to the finals by beating former Wyomissing High School state champion and six-time Hits for Hope champion Andre Fick in the semifinals.

Also in the adult draw, Suwak partnered with his Shenandoah University teammate Max Arkans to win the men’s doubles title.

Matt Muoio partnered with former Texas A&M Corpus Christi player Cami Townsend to defeat Kaushik Das and Alex Pancu in the mixed doubles final.

The women’s singles title was won by Yakoko Noi, the assistant tennis coach at the University of Pennsylvania. She defeated former Schuylkill Valley High School standout and former Muhlenberg College All-American Amy Reuther in the final.

In the family draws, the brother/brother doubles was won for the fourth straight year by Rocco and Jozef Schkreli of Cedar Crest. They defeated their Cedar Crest teammates Nathan and Viseth Meng 7-6, 7-6 in the championship match.

In mother/son doubles, Jody Wilson, the head coach at Ephrata High School, and her son Lance won the title.

The father/daughter title was won by Chris Von Nieda and Olivia Von Nieda.

The father/son doubles draw was won for a record-tying sixth time by Matt Muoio and Joe Muoio of West Chester.

In the junior draws, recent Lancaster Country Day graduate Sophia Babar won the Girls 18s singles tile over Wilson’s Jin Lin Chen in the final.

The boys 18s champion was Anthony Kirchner, who is ranked fifth nationally in the country in boys 14s. He defeated Conrad Weiser’s state doubles champion Armaan Malik 6-3, 7-6 tin the finals.

Luke Robison, a rising seventh grader at Conrad Weiser, won the Junior MVP as the top junior player in the tournament after winning the Boys 14U Mixed Doubles title with partner Natalie Nelson and finishing as the finalist in Boys 14U Doubles with Peyton Masi and the finalist for the Boys 12U singles draw.

Matt Muoio was named the Adult MVP in the Hits for Hope Tennis Tournament. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Knarr)

The Hits for Hope Adult MVP award was won by Matt Muoio, who won the father/son doubles title and mixed open doubles championship.

The tournament took place from Monday, June 9 through Sunday with 297 players in 35 draws.

The tournament raised $4,300 for the charity FaithCare.

At the Night of Champions event on Saturday, the Berks high school players of the year Amelia Gassert from Hamburg and Chase Gerloff from Daniel Boone were honored along with Katie McClain from Antietam and Armaan Malik from Conrad Weiser, who were senior recipients of the BCTA Merv Heller Memorial Scholarship.

Also honored with the BCTA Community Aces award was Twin Valley head coach Joe Alessandrini.

The BCTA inducted two new members to the Berks County Tennis Hall of Fame in former Schuylkill Valley High School, Millersville University standout and former Wilson tennis coach Ryan Cuevas, and former Wyomissing and University of Delaware standout Susan Pollack-Esposito.

“Hits for Hope continues to be one of the crown jewel tennis events on the east coast of the country and give the tennis community a chance to come together for a great cause and play for something bigger than themselves,” said Conrad Weiser Tennis Association president and tournament director Ryan Knarr. “We are thrilled to use tennis as a platform to give back to a great cause in FaithCare, while continuing to inspire a new generation of tennis players through a marquee event like Hits for Hope each June.”