Triolo, Graziadei Win PAC-10 Doubles Tourney

could not fulfill his dream of becoming a three-time PAC-10 Singles Champion after losing to Phoenixville's Karlyn Small in this year's tournament. However, he was able to win his last match and yet another PAC-10 Doubles Championship for the second straight year, this time alongside junior .

Even better, the 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 win was over Small and Doug Reeves at Kinetix Indoor Facility in Norristown.

"I thought we got ahead of ourselves a little bit, didn't play our game," said head coach John Brennan. "After the first set, we talked about playing our type of tennis. Don't worry about what Phoenixville is doing. We did a great job in the second set. It's like they really put that first set in the memory banks and weren't worrying about it anymore."

Just like last year, the Spring-Ford boys accomplished this feat "with the help of their friends." But unlike last year, this match was indoors. So, the current and former teammates (all home from college now) of the Spring-Ford guys were watching from above.

"It's just the four kids out on the court," Brennan said. "You could see it was really intense. Both teams wanted to win that [third] set. We came in with a really good return games and great serving, which is huge in doubles tennis."

For Triolo, the developing rivalry over Small ended with the final victory of his high school career. Small is only a sophomore, so his best tennis may still be ahead.

"It feels awesome," said Triolo. "I didn't win singles this year and that kind of stunk and it was a really close match. We didn't play our best in the beginning. Second and third set, Joey served extremely well. That was the key the entire match - the serving and returning."

Graziadei came into the match with some varsity doubles experience from his sophomore season. He felt that aided him, but nothing aided him more than the play of his partner.

"Tyler's my favorite partner I think I've ever played with," Graziadei said. "He can dominate the court and I just love playing with him. Yeah, I have a bit of a doubles background. I understand doubles. It was easy knowing I had someone like Tyler having my back. He was able to carry me from time to time, and I was able to help him out when he needed it."

This is Graziadei's first league title and he was happy to say the least.

"I never really thought I would be able to do something like this," said Graziadei. "Working with someone like Tyler gave me the opportunity. We didn't come to play at the beginning, but by the end we played pretty well and were able to pull it out."

Next year, Graziadei will be most likely the undisputed leader of the team, coming in as a senior. Triolo will be playing as a freshman at Allegheny College.

"It's great, we have a really young team," Graziadei said. "Some of the guys are my age too. For someone like Tyler, the guys really like listening to him, because he's an older guy, he's been there before. Having a doubles championship may help them understand I can help them out. I think we will really have a good team next year if we take the time and work on some things. We can do something next year."

Overall, Brennan was happy for his four-year all-star to go out with a big victory.

"Not a lot of kids in any sport get to walk out with a win unless you're winning some sort of state title," Brennan concluded. "I'm really excited for Tyler in his very last match at Spring-Ford, he gets a W. That's a really special thing for him."