PIAA boys' tennis: Dallastown's Holden Koons claims silver after 3-set championship battle

Holden Koons couldn't quite snag the YAIAA's first PIAA boys' tennis title since 1999, but his silver-medal effort on Saturday certainly warrants congratulations.

The Dallastown junior pushed District 1 champion Sameer Gangoli to three sets before losing 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-2 in the Class 3A singles title match at Hershey Racquet Club.

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Earlier this weekend, Koons cruised in his first-round match against Downingtown West's Brett Graybill (6-1, 6-0), then earned a semifinal berth with a Friday afternoon triumph over Wissahickon's Andrew Tran (7-6 (6), 6-4).

On Saturday morning, Koons clinched the championship berth by rallying past District 7 champ Robby Shymansky of Fox Chapel (6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4).

Koons' father and coach, Mark Koons, said that win "might have been the highest level of tennis" he's seen from his son. Shymansky, he said, was among the favorites on paper heading into the PIAA Class 3A singles tournament.

The title match against Gangoli tilted back and forth before the Great Valley sophomore, one of the top tennis prospects in the region, pulled away in the third, winning the final five games.

Koons, whose match with Shymansky lasted nearly three hours, had just kept his gold-medal hopes alive with an intense 8-6 tiebreak in the second set.

He was up a break, serving 2-1 in the third set, when "he just kind of completely ran out of gas," his father said.

"Obviously I'm pretty upset I lost after having a good win before that," Holden Koons said, "but I had a pretty good tournament. The guy I beat last night [Train], that was a really good win. It wasn't a bad match against Sameer. Not too disappointed as a whole. And I still have next year, too."

The top four finishers are all underclassmen, with Shymansky and fourth-place Tristan Bradley of Unionville in the Class of 2019 like Koons.

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Koons, a three-time YAIAA and District 3 champ, advanced further this year than his first two PIAA tourney attempts.

As a freshman, Koons lost in the first round. Last year, capping his sophomore season, he fell in the quarterfinals.

"Holden makes me very proud as a father and a coach," Mark Koons said. "Not only in how he competes on the tennis court, but in the way he represents himself and his school."

The last of three YAIAA state champs was West York's Brian Nachtigall in 1999.