MOON TWP. — In team sports, coaches have the ability to hide a player who may not perform well in certain areas of the games. But in individual sports like tennis, there is no place to hide; it’s just you versus your opponent to prove who is better.
Throughout the regular season and for a majority of the postseason, Moon’s Logan D’Angelo proved time and time again that he was the better player. He finished the regular season with an undefeated record, and the only two matches he lost this season were his final two singles matches. For his efforts, D’Angelo is this week’s Beaver County Times Boys Athlete of the Week.
Over the past two weeks, the future St. Bonaventure Bonnie first contributed to a team championship at the MAC Tennis Tournament by cruising through the first singles bracket and defeating Hopewell’s Miles Collins in the championship match. His teammates followed suit as the Tigers swept the tournament.
“I think that was a big accomplishment for Moon as a school, and I think it was the first time in history, so I think we definitely made a statement with that,” D’Angelo said.
Next, D’Angelo put his talents on display at the Section 2-3A singles tournament. He easily played his way through the bracket, only losing four games the entire tournament. Three of those came in the first set of his final match against North Allegheny’s Ivan Voinov.
D’Angelo followed up his second sectional championship in as many years with a trip to the WPIAL tournament, where he ousted his first two opponents before he fell to Peters Township’s Connor Bruce in the semifinal. Bruce went on to finish as the runner-up, falling to Fox Chapel’s Robby Shymansky in the championship match.
It was the first loss of D’Angelo’s senior season. He then fell to Allderdice’s Marcus Mitchell, 6-3, 6-4, in the third-place match last Friday, falling short of a state championship appearance.
“I’m happy I was able to come back this year and do just as well as last year,” D’Angelo said. “But, of course, I’m a little upset I couldn’t go further, especially it being my senior year and not going to states. That’s something I would have liked to accomplish, but nonetheless I am still happy with the season overall.”
While his singles career at Moon is over, D’Angelo still has a chance to leave even more of a mark on his high-school career.
After a successful run in the singles tournaments last week, he’ll now team up with Nick Magnelli, who took home the second singles bracket at the MAC tournament, for their sectional and WPIAL tournaments this week. Avant Shetty and Garrett Ley will team up as well for the Tigers.
“Then, I’ll probably take a few weeks off before I hit the ground running with workouts to prepare for all of the tennis I have ahead of me,” D’Angelo said of his plans for the rest of the season.