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<p>CLARKS SUMMIT &#8212; Alex DeRome made it past the third seed and the second seed in his surprise run to the District 2 Class 2A boys tennis singles final.</p><p>The top seed was a different story for the No. 2 singles player on the Dallas team that finished second in both the Wyoming Valley Conference and the District 2 team tournament.</p><p>Western Wayne&#8217;s Lenny Maiocco repeated his title by stopping DeRome, 6-0, 6-0, in Thursday&#8217;s championship match at the Birchwood Racquet Club.</p><p>&#8220;Every shot he hits is just perfect,&#8221; DeRome said. &#8220;There is no missed shot. Sure, you get a few unforced errors, but that just comes from him being super precise and being able to hit corners.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s just a very strong player and really good athlete.&#8221;</p><p>Just being in the final was a source of pride for DeRome, who read the bracket and fully understood the expectations of him as a seventh seed going into Wednesday&#8217;s start of the tournament.</p><p>&#8220;I thought I was going to lose to (Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s) Will Ziegler in the quarterfinal,&#8221; DeRome said. &#8220;I was lucky enough to get past that. It was a heckuva match.</p><p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t picture this.&#8221;</p><p>DeRome followed up the biggest upset of Wednesday&#8217;s action with another Thursday.</p><p>When action moved inside to Birchwood for the start of the semifinals Thursday, DeRome defeated third-seeded Logan Gregory from Holy Cross, 6-4, 6-1.</p><p>DeRome had reached the semifinals with Wednesday&#8217;s 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5 upset of second-seeded Ziegler, the No. 1 singles player on Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s championship squad.</p><p>&#8220;I think (Wednesday), I really found my serve in the quarterfinals,&#8221; DeRome said. &#8220;I really started to hit that well.</p><p>&#8220;It was my ability to keep the ball in play in both the quarterfinal and semifinal that allowed me to prolong the match and beat them.&#8221;</p><p>After Maiocco jumped to a 3-0 lead, DeRome had his best chance while serving for the second time. DeRome took a 40-15 lead, but Maiocco won the last four points of the game and remained in control from there.</p><p>Dallas had the last two WVC players standing in DeRome and fellow semifinalist John Toussaint.</p><p>Maiocco knocked them both out Thursday. He topped Toussaint, 6-0, 6-1, in his first Thursday match.</p><p>The WVC did not have a player reach the second day in the District 2-4 Class 3A subregional, where Delaware Valley&#8217;s Tomas Reese also took the final, 6-0, 6-0, beating Rory Harris from Abington Heights.</p><p>Dallas coach Joe Pugliese said Toussaint and DeRome will team for one of the two Dallas entries in the District 2 doubles tournament, which has early rounds scheduled for Monday, beginning at 9 a.m. at Kirby Park. The semifinals and finals are set for Wednesday.</p><p>Dom Rizzo, coming off a 3-0 performance at third singles in the district team tournament, will probably wind up filling one of the other spots.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Seeded seventh in the District 2 Class 2A singles tournament, Dallas&#8217; Alex DeRome pulled a pair of upsets to reach the bracket championship. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_DeRome.jpg</photo0><caption0>Seeded seventh in the District 2 Class 2A singles tournament, Dallas&#8217; Alex DeRome pulled a pair of upsets to reach the bracket championship. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tom Robinson | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Robinson</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Dallas’ DeRome earns silver at District 2 tennis singles championships