Tennis: Karlyn Small Wins Silver Medal at PAC-10 Singles

PERKIOMEN-Phoenixville freshman Karlyn Small faces challenges every time he takes the court, and Monday was no exception as he squared off against the weather, illness and Spring-Ford ace, junior Tyler Triolo.

Triolo entered the tournament as the reigning champion and following the three-set war that the duo waged a week ago at Phoenixville, a rematch was not only a possibility, but expected.

Small started his trek through the bracket on Friday by laying waste to the field one at a time, defeating teammate Jeff Potts in the second round of competition and Spring-Ford’s number two singles player Gary Williams 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) to advance to the final four.

After getting washed out on Saturday and sitting through what turned out to be a fortunate rain delay early on, Small finally got to battle Boyertown’s Chris Chung, one of last year’s finalists, for a spot in the final

“It was huge just to get here. Everybody is so strong,” said Small, adding he was grateful for the rain. “I didn’t feel well earlier in the day. During the break coach [Leo] Scoda got me some soda and the trainer helped me stretch my back, which was bothering me. I felt much better once we got started again.”

Small and Chung battled to a tie breaker in the first set as Small climbed back from a 4-2 deficit, breaking Chung’s serve three times to defeat Chung 7-6 following a 7-1 edge in the tie break.

“Chris [Chung] is a great player,” said Small. “He finished second here last year and I’m sure he wanted to get back to the finals. After the break I felt so much better and I was able to focus on what I had to do. It was important to get my serve in, which I was pretty successful at.”

After grabbing the momentum, Small made quick work of Chung in the second set, running out to 3-0 start and closing out Chung with a 6-1 win, thus punching his ticket in the final. 

“[Chung] is so fast,” added Small. “He got to a couple shots that I never thought he had a chance at.”

After a 45-minute intermission, which felt like forever as more storm clouds loomed overhead, Small and Triolo got to the task at hand.

In the final, Triolo established the momentum early, fueled by the 20 or so teammates that had made the trek to Perkiomen Valley to support him, by rambling to a 4-1 lead while breaking Small’s serve once.

Small cut the lead to 4-3 by breaking serve and looked as though he would even it at four games apiece before a critical double fault.

Triolo went on to win the first set 6-3 and never really gave Small a glimpse of an opportunity in the second set, emerging with a 6-2 victory over the youngster, claiming his second straight singles title.

“The great thing for me as a coach is that not only did he qualify for districts, he will have three more years here,” said head coach Leo Scoda. “We have two boys going to districts and he got some valuable experience against Tyler [Triolo], who is an excellent player. I wouldn’t doubt if we see the same final next year.”

“We had some scoring issues last time we played.” said Triolo. “I just needed to stay focused on what I had to do. I was not about to let him get me out of my game. He is such a good player that you can’t give him a chance to get momentum going or he will beat you.”

“I am very proud of Tyler,” said Rams head coach John Brennan. “Our goal here today was qualifying for districts, which he accomplished by winning the semifinal. Everything else after that was gravy. It says a lot about our kids for all of them to come and root for him. He was the only underclassmen last season and all of our seniors love him.”

With the singles tournament now is his rearview mirror, Small can focus full speed ahead on what Phoenixville is trying to accomplish as a team.

“I am very proud and happy to get the silver medal here,” added Small. “I would trade that in a minute for us to win a team title. We know what we have to do when we play Methacton this week. We know it’s probably for the PAC-10.”

Due to the non-stop barrage of rain this season, Phoenixville has multiple team matches coming in the next two weeks as the Phantoms battle for a team title, none as big as Wednesday’s meeting in Fairview Village as the Phantoms travel to face Methacton at 3:30 p.m. Methacton is the sole remaining unbeaten team in league play, with their destiny in their own hands.

Small's championship path:

First round- bye

Second round- Small defeats Jeff Potts (PX) 6-1, 6-0

Third round- Small defeats Gary Williams (SF) 6-1, 7-6 (7-3)

Fourth round- Small defeats Chris Chung (BOY) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2

Championship final- Tyler Triolo (SF) defeats Small 6-3, 6-2