Westmont Hilltop boys tennis team claims 3rd straight District 6 Class 2A team title by beating Bishop McCort Catholic
The Westmont Hilltop boys tennis team took a businesslike approach into Wednesday’s District 6 Class 2A team championship match against Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference and city rival Bishop McCort Catholic.
Strong singles play and effective chemistry displayed in doubles allowed the top-seeded and host Hilltoppers to defeat the second-seeded Crimson Crushers 5-0 for a third consecutive district team title.
“It feels great to have three in a row,” Westmont Hilltop senior Easton Ragno said. “It could have been almost four my freshman year. It’s been fun for our high school years of tennis and I’ll always remember it.”
Westmont Hilltop (13-2) also beat Bishop McCort (7-9) 5-0 and 3-2 earlier this season. The Hilltoppers will play District 5 champion Somerset Tuesday in Altoona during the first round of the PIAA tournament. The winner advances to the quarterfinals in Hershey May 16.
“It defines the hard work that these guys have put in all year,” Westmont Hilltop coach Dan Fregly said. “It’s a great group of seniors that are dedicated.
“They’re all multi-sport athletes and they still brought it for tennis. They’re competitive, determined and great kids. I’m so proud of all of them. It was the nucleus that we’ve carried from year to year. I hate to see these guys graduate, but I think we have a pretty good team coming up next year. We’ll see if we can do it again.”
The Hilltoppers beat Somerset 5-0 and 4-1 during the regular season.
“It’s going to be a tough match,” Westmont Hilltop senior Sebastian Masterson said.
Bishop McCort has taken incredible leaps forward as a program, from only winning four matches in 2024 to playing for a district team title this season.
The Crimson Crushers advanced to their first district team title match since 2011 with a sweep of Juniata Monday.
“The school is very proud of this team and their accomplishments to make the District 6 championship,” Bishop McCort coach Joe Hancharick said.
“We have a great core group of seniors, four of which were with us ever since they were freshmen. It’s a great way for them to end their tennis career at Bishop McCort. I have a lot of great help with coaches Joe Ramirez, Virgil Moraca and Jane Matthews over the years.
“We’re looking forward to continuing our success. This is hopefully just a stepping stone for bigger and bigger things to come in the future for both boys and girls tennis at Bishop McCort.”
“We have kids who have played in the summertime, who took advantage of North Fork in the wintertime and Ebensburg as well. The offseason is really when you become a better tennis player in a lot of players, putting in work in the offseason. It’s going to give us some confidence in our tennis program moving forward both for the boys and girls. Especially the seniors, they did a great job in developing this program and making it work.”
Ragno, a two-time District 6 doubles champion and 2025 singles and doubles runner-up, defeated Bishop McCort junior Cameron Smith 6-1, 6-2 in No. 1 singles. Junior John Allen topped Bishop McCort senior Stephen Sanders 6-0, 6-1 in second singles.
Junior Brett Hoffman, a two-time District 6 doubles champ, beat Bishop McCort senior Brady Dolgas 6-1, 6-0 in third singles.
Seniors Jonah McCoy and Masterson, this year’s District 6 doubles champ with Hoffman, overcame a slow start to beat seniors Elijah Bennett and Brody Nagle 6-3, 6-0 in first doubles.
“In the beginning, we were struggling a lot, but coach came over to us and said, ‘We are horrible’ and that brought our momentum up,” Masterson said.
“That inspired us to victory.”
“Honestly, I think our boys tennis program has always been pretty good, same with the girls,” McCoy said. “It comes down to caching. When you look at his (Fregly’s) record, he has a great record as a coach.
“We keep winning.”
Junior Conner Selders and senior Ryan Poad put the finishing touches on the sweep by beating junior Timothy Hoff and freshman Dominic Facciani 6-2, 7-5 in second doubles.
“It’s a testament to the kids have fun first,” Fregly said.
“They come down and they enjoy being here. It’s a spot that they love to come to after classes.
“They stay after practice just to hit around. They love the sport. As a result when they go out on the court, they play hard.
“We’ve had positive results.”
Jake Oswalt is a copy editor for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @TheWizOfOz11.
