Towson High outlasted Dulaney, 7-4, for its fifth consecutive Baltimore County championship Wednesday afternoon in Timonium. Many of the contests went to the third match before a winner was decided.
While Towson’s Mayank Bapna won his No. 3 boys’ singles match against David Wu, 15-3, 5-15 and15-6, Dulaney’s mixed doubles team of Fan Wu and James Lhu defeated Jibirl Kedir and Becky Spencer-Strong, 15-4 and 15-11. The Generals countered with a win in the No. 2 girls’ singles s Diana Reighart beat Parie Kerr, 15-8 and 15-6.
Towson posted their third win as Xi Zhao won the No. 3 girls’ singles over Monica Kuo. Dulaney’s Chris Fowler defeated Towson’s Bryce Manubay in No. 1 boys’ singles, 15-2 and 15-2, for their second win, and Helen Gao in No. 1 singles handled Jayne Flynn 15-0 and 15-1, pulling the host Lions even at 3.
Dulaney’s doubles duo of Amy and Jessica Hung took their first game against Laura Stec and Samara Cohen, 15-11, but Stec and Cohen came back to win the next two games 15-7 and 15-13, for Towson. At the same time, Towson’s Justin Thau and partner Simon Townsend-Last came back after losing their first game to Cody and Eli Sherlock to win in three sets (5-15, 15-6 and 15-12), pushing the Generals ahead 5-3.
The title was sealed when Towson sophomore Billy Wu rallied to defeat Kun Leng, 8-15, 17-14 and 15-8. Towson got their seventh win as Jia Gao and Mayumi Rezwan won their No. 2 girls’ doubles match, 15-10 and 15-7, over Hibi Faridi and Flo Sahaniuk.
“This game could have gone either way” said Towson coach Cary Sonneborn. “I was thinking it would be 6-5 depending on which team played better, got a few breaks, but more than anything, really wanted it.
We came up to Dulaney last year and won, so the kids knew they could do it I am really proud of them, they worked hard all season to get better, and it paid off today.”
“This is my least experienced team to win the championship” said Sonneborn. “We don’t have the best player’s in the county, but we have depth and that’s what you need to have if you want to win as a team”
