Breaking News
Local Sports

Lewisburg’s Evan Cecchini wins District 4 singles title

By Jon Gerardi 6 min read

Hughesville's Logan Burns had just won the seventh game in the first set to take a 4-3 lead against Lewisburg's Evan Cecchini. It was the first time in the final that the Lewisburg senior had trailed. During the changeover, Cecchini sat down next to the court, took a sip of his water and started to eat a Pop-Tart.

He kept glancing down at his watch to make sure he didn't go over the allotted time. Cecchini wanted to try to slow the momentum and pace down against Burns in that first set and, ultimately, it worked.

Cecchini won the next game to tie the first set at 4-4 and from there, never let Burns reclaim the lead in either the first or second set as the Lewisburg senior went on to win the District 4 singles championship, 7-5, 6-3 in two very close contests at the Central PA Tennis Center on Monday.

In his first season of varsity competition in Pennsylvania, Cecchini made a statement. After losing out on his junior year of competition with thousands of other players due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cecchini responded as a senior by becoming the fifth Lewisburg player to win a District 4 singles title since 2010. He joins Peter Csernica (2011), Ben Koch (2013), Tim Sprunt (2017) and Carter Casimir (2018).

Prior to last year, Cecchini played tennis for two years in Indiana as a freshman and sophomore.

"It feels fantastic. This was my only year playing high school tennis (in Pennsylvania) so I had to prove myself and get my name out there and, in the end, I think it worked for me," Cecchini said.

It definitely did, and that break to slow down the pace was key early on.

"I usually don't sit down between breaks, but when I went down, I had to reset mentally and he was playing fantastic. So I had to slow down the pace a little bit," Cecchini said. "I had my watch, I kept checking it to make sure I didn't go over the time. It slowed down the pace, (gave me a) mental reset and I came back hard.

"That was really the pivotal point of the first set."

Burns would tie it a second time at 5-5, but never took a lead again after he went up, 4-3.

"I was just trying to open up the court on the forehand and trying to sneak cross-court backhand after that to his backhand side," Burns said. "Just keeping the points moving and going and trying to tire him. We're both really competitive and that's why I admire his game so much is just that we're both so competitive."

After Burns tied it at 5-5, he took a 15-love lead in the next game. But following that, Cecchini won eight of the next nine to close out the victory.

"That probably changed the tide a little bit for me instead of him," Cecchini said.

It carried over into the second set when Cecchini went ahead quickly, 3-0. Burns kept fighting, though, and made it interesting when he won two in a row to cut the deficit to 3-2. That was in large part thanks to Burns playing outstanding at the net and using his reach to his advantage. After Burns won two to make it 3-2, Cecchini then won two straight to make it 5-2. Burns won the next game, but then lost the deciding game.

While Burns admitted playing at the net isn't his strongest point, he said against Cecchini he knew he had to make sure his approach shots were perfect.

"I wasn't trying to be too aggressive," Burns said. "When it was a good approach shot I was able to come on top of it, but most other times I'd try to be a little more aggressive and go for more than I should."

The two played each other twice earlier in the season and Cecchini swept both contests. But Monday was a display of two outstanding tennis players showcasing their best play. If Cecchini and Burns weren't playing their best tennis, it was sure close to it.

"Neither of us played our best tennis in either of those matches, and I feel like this match right here, we both played either our best or close to our best," Cecchini said. "That made us really push each other to the limit."

"It says a lot about both of us as competitors because we both wanted to be here and wanted to leave with our heads held high, and I think that's what happened," Burns said.

Burns stands a little taller than Cecchini, and those few extra inches allow him to have more reach. It was something Cecchini knew, and Cecchini is far from a stranger to Burns. The Lewisburg senior admitted that he had to try at times to simply hit straight at Burns and hope he missed.

"It really isn't the most efficient strategy considering he's a very good volleyer, but I really had to focus on minimizing how often he came to the net instead of having to deal with that," Cecchini said.

Cecchini did an outstanding job of painting the corners and keeping the ball just outside of Burns' reach. Burns played well not only near the net, but in the middle. Whenever Cecchini did return a shot in the middle, Burns was right there to hit it before it would even bounce.

"His ability to bounce back for sure (was tough)," Burns said. "I mean his forehand is unbelievable."

Both Cecchini and Burns advance to the PIAA Class AA singles tournament in Hershey on Friday, May 28 at 8 a.m.

"I got to focus on states, I'd rather be state champ than district champ," Cecchini joked.

"Just being able to come back this year and prove that I am up there with the district champion, it makes me feel good," Burns said.

Cecchini defeated Jersey Shore's Jackson Stemler in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-2 and Burns beat Montoursville's Andrew Stapp, 6-2, 6-0.

Burns noted that there were a little bit of nerves in his semifinal match against Stapp, but once the match progressed, he got control of his game and started going for shots he knew he was comfortable with. As for Cecchini, Stemler's serve gave him some problems.

"The nets here on side, I had a lot of trouble with Logan too, they're very, very close to the doubles alley, and he had a slice serve on deuce side out wide and he aced me like three times off of it," Cecchini said. "When he hit that shot it wasn't returnable."

DISTRICT 4 BOYS TENNIS SINGLES TOURNAMENT

SEMIFINALS

Lewisburg's Evan Cecchini def. Jersey Shore's Jackson Stemler, 6-1, 6-2; Hughesville's Logan Burns def. Montoursville's Andrew Stapp, 6-2, 6-0.

FINALS

Lewisburg's Evan Cecchini def. Hughesville's Logan Burns, 7-5, 6-3.

Starting at /week.