Butler senior nets crown
Kowalski stands tall in winning tennis title

By Derek Pyda
Eagle Staff Writer

WEXFORD — Never underestimate an athlete when he is on his game.
Evan Kowalski certainly was four two days and has a Section 2 boys tennis singles title to show for it.
The Butler senior defeated North Allegheny's Andrew Marczak 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 in the section championship match Tuesday at Oxford Athletic Club.
"I was definitely excited about it," said Kowalski, who entered the tournament seeded fourth. "I was glad to see that all my hard work had paid off."
Kowalski didn't panic when he dropped the first set after losing a tiebreaker to Marczak, 7-1.
"It was a close set," he said. "I knew I had the right game plan and I just had to stick to it.
"(Marczak) has a very strong forehand and I was able to neutralize the court," Kowalski added. "I moved him around and forced him to go to his backhand."
Golden Tornado coach Dave Hartzell was impressed with Kowalski's ability to bounce back from a tough defeat.
"He was able to regroup and played very well from that point on," Hartzell said. "Over the last two days, he won two matches against players who were favored against him."
The first of those came on Monday, when Kowalski faced his teammate and Butler's top singles player, Matt Slamecka, in the semifinals at North Allegheny High.
The Kowalski prevailed 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 to advance to the finals.
"It was definitely tough to face Matt. We've been close friends for a long time," Kowalski said. "I wouldn't be able to beat him every time, but I was just on that day. He congratulated me after the match."
"Matt has traditionally been the best player in our section," said Hartzell. "But Evan hung in there and rose to the occasion."
Slamecka rebounded Tuesday, beating Pine-Richland's Bas Van Lent (6-1, 6-4) to earn the third and final spot from the section in the WPIAL tournament, which begins Monday.
Both Slamecka and Kowalski reached the WPIALs in 2008, placing second and third in the section, respectively.
Slamecka won the section title last year.
The site of the district championships will be announced today.
"There's a kid from Shady Side Academy, Chris Mengel, and he's the favorite to win the WPIAL title," said Hartzell. "But I would put both Evan and Matt right behind him."
With a section title in his back pocket, Kowalski isn't resting on his laurels.
"Only the top two from the WPIAL move on to the state tournament," he said. "My goal is to make the title match and go on to states."