Miller, Evans capture Ches-Mont boys’ tennis singles tourney titles

By Bruce Adams

Badams@21st-centurymedia.com

Concord – Unionville senior Matt Miller and West Chester Henderson sophomore Zach Evans took two distinctly different paths to finishing first at the Ches-Mont singles tournaments at Brandywine Racquet Club Friday.

In the Ches-Mont American Division singles tourney, Miller swept through his semifinal and championship final matches, winning the semifinal 6-1, 6-1 and prevailing in the final 6-2, 6-0.

Meanwhile, Evans had to beat the last two Ches-Mont National Division singles tourney champions to capture the 2025 C-M National singles title. In Friday’s semifinal, Evans defeated the defending champion, West Chester East senior Ben Gao, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5. Then, in the championship final, Evans beat the 2023 Ches-Mont National singles champion, Downingtown East’s Shrihan Madam, 7-6 (7-2), 6-0 after trailing 3-0 in the first set.

For Miller, this is his third consecutive Ches-Mont American singles title.

“Winning it for the third time feels awesome, this is my last year here and I wanted to end (the tourney) on a good note,” said a smiling Miller. “I tried to have confidence, step into the ball and dictate points because I was the No. 1 seed so I’ve got to play like one (laughs).”

In the two-day tournament, Miller won all four of his matches in straight sets – he won his two Thursday matches by the score of 6-0, 6-0. Miller won all of his matches in straight sets when he won the Ches-Mont American singles title as a junior and as a sophomore, too.

“I felt like my forehand was definitely good today,” said Miller. “I felt like I was able to start points off with an advantage, being able to play it in the corner pretty consistently.”

With his first-place finish, Miller advances to the PIAA District 1 3A singles tourney, where he finished third last year.

Unionville boys’ tennis head coach Jimmy O’Rourke said, “Every year, every facet of Matt’s game gets better. The mental aspect of his game, being able to keep a short-term memory on things that aren’t going well, being able to turn it around if he needs to, having a reset switch, are tools that he’s getting (more) comfortable with. His mental game has always been good, but now both his physical and mental game are starting to peak.

“His ball placement has been really good this season. He’s not just a ground-and-pound, he knows when to throw the changeup, he knows how to bring people to the net, he works his players east, west, north and south. And he’s good at scouting his (opponents), even from when they warm up, looking for weaknesses that he can exploit.”

The top three finishers in the Ches-Mont American singles tourney automatically clinch a berth in the PIAA District 1A singles tournament. For the second year in a row, Unionville swept the top three places Friday, with Miller, senior Andy Ye and freshman Andrew Li placing 1-2-3 in the C-M American tourney.

Ye, who will be making his second trip to the District 1 3A singles tourney, defeated Great Valley’s Vivek Arvind, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 in the semifinals Friday to advance to the championship round against Miller.

“I tried to cool down a bit (after the first set) and not try to overheat the ball,” said Ye. “In the first set I was going a little too hard. I took a little bit off (my shots) and tried to focus on making one more shot than (Arvind) and taking my opportunities when I got them.”

“Andy has a powerful forehand with a lot of topspin,” said O’Rourke. “He knows how to work the net and he’s a good doubles player. He has a good mind – he’s a good guy to flip the switch between sets and to change things up when needed.”

Li defeated Arvind, 6-0, 6-1, in the third-place match.

“Consistency in the biggest thing for Andrew,” said O’Rourke. “I can’t remember the last time he double-faulted. He has a second serve which is an 8 out of 10, where some people will do a 6 out of 10 on the second serve just to get the point started. His second serve is a big weapon for him. His power is kind of shocking for a kid who is in a ninth-grader’s body.”

For Evans, the Ches-Mont National singles champion, Friday’s matches were closely-fought contests.

“I feel really good about winning (the title) and hopefully I can go further in districts than last year,” said Evans, who finished third at last year’s Ches-Mont National singles tourney then advanced to the second round of the district singles tournament.

In Friday’s semifinal against Gao, Evans got out to a big early lead in the first set en route to a 7-6 (7-5) win, then he followed it up with a 7-5 victory in the second set to advance to the championship final.

Evans, who lost to Gao earlier this season, thought his semifinal contest Friday was his best match of the season to date.

“I thought the key was bringing (Gao) into the net, and going to the net myself,” said Evans.

West Chester Henderson head coach Peter Sok said, “I thought Zach was very methodical in how he played the match. He defended pretty well and was pretty consistent. He was a little tentative when he (had a big early lead) in the first set, but he was able to keep his composure and play one set at a time. I was very pleased with how he handled himself.”

In the championship final against Madam, Evans fell behind 3-0 in the first set but battled back for a 7-6 (7-2) victory, then swept to a 6-0 win in the second set.

“When I was down 3-0 I knew what I had to do,” said Evans. “I had to stop giving him the short balls, move him around and not go for too much.”

Sok said, “I thought Zach did a good job of never giving up; it took him a little bit of time to get into the groove but he was able to get into a good rhythm and make some key points in the first set.

“Zach has very good defending skill, he’s very quick and agile; he’s just an all-around player.”

Madam advanced to the championship final after a 6-3, 6-3 win against Bishop Shanahan junior Danny Gallagher in the semifinals.

In the third-place match, Gao defeated Gallagher, 6-4, 6-0, and clinched a berth in the District 1 3A singles tourney for the fourth consecutive year.

“I was really proud of Ben with how he stepped up after the tough (semifinal) match,” said West Chester East head coach Mike Orenshaw. “Zach played amazing, and congrats to him for winning the title. Ben came back and did what he had to do (in the third-place match) and he’ll be back in districts.”

The top four seeds in the Ches-Mont National singles tourney — Gao, Evans, Madam and Gallagher – each won their two Thursday rounds in straight sets at West Chester Henderson High School to advance to Friday’s semifinals.

While the top three finishers in the Ches-Mont National singles tourney automatically qualify for the District 1 3A singles tourney, Bishop Shanahan competes at the 2A level, so Gallagher has qualified for the District 1 2A singles tourney.