Caesar Rodney dominates Henlopen Conference tennis tournament

DOVER — Caesar Rodney High captured 11 of the 12 possible titles in dominating the Henlopen Conference tennis tournaments over the weekend.

The Riders took both team championships, winning the title for the 14th straight season in the boys’ division and for the third year in a row on the girls’ side.

The girls’ tourney, which was played at CR, didn’t end until Monday after getting delayed by rain on Saturday.

The Riders won all five courts in the boys’ brackets.

At first singles, CR senior Jason Moyer downed Indian River senior Evan Sprucebank 6-3, 6-0 in the finals.

The Riders’ other conference champions were junior Ayush Patel (second singles), junior Marc Patrick Clemente (third singles), sophomore Tharaneetharan Shiva and junior Sage Sawhney (first doubles) and sophomores Vraj Shah and Aidan Flaherty (second doubles). CR finished with 25 points while Cape Henlopen and IR tied for second with eight.

In the girls’ tourney, the Riders won four of the five brackets.

At first singles, CR sophomore Gracie Clark took the first singles title with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Cape Henlopen freshman Abby Hazzard in the finals.

Also winning titles for the Riders were junior Ava Vu (second singles), senior Yatra Patel and junior Maxine Banaag (first doubles) and senior Allyson Lebendig and junior Pia Patel (second doubles).

The only title CR didn’t win was at third singles where Sussex Academy’s second-seeded Catherine Reilly out-lasted CR’s top-seeded Noelle Snyder, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 in a match that took several hours.

The DIAA state tournament starts on Saturday at various sites.