Indiana'a Zachary Palko added to his already historic season by claiming the team's first ever tennis singles gold medal at the WPIAL tournament held today at Mt. Lebanon High School.  Zach defeated Thomas Jefferson's Yash Maheshwari 6-2, 6-2.  

As has been the case all season, Zach dominated the match with his serve.  He jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set playing nearly error free high percentage tennis, mixing in a variety of slice backhands, big topspin forehands, and an occasional drop shot.  He got a little caught up in the moment at 40-15 serving for the set, ended up being broken for the first time all tournament, but was able to break serve in the eighth game to close out the set when Yash sailed a forehand long.  

The second set opened with two long games that forced Zach to be mentally tough and not force shots and he opened up a 3-0 after a quick hold in the third game.  He and Yash then traded service games before Zach ended the match with an athletic jumping overhead to set up match point and a big forehand that forced an error to seal the win.  

"It was so impressive to see all the things Zach has been working on pay dividends in a big match.  He spent a few months working at Ebensburg Tennis Center with pro Jamie Taylor to improve his shot selection in matches as well as his backhand and that was a big key today.  He used to rely so much on making high risk shots that were fun and flashy but hard to make on a consistent basis.   He'd lose matches by just beating himself.   The flashy stuff was still there at times today but it was backed up with solid shot making that just wears down an opponent and forces them to make mistakes.  Zach and I also credit improvements in his serve to his playing platform tennis with former IHS assistant Mike Mclaughlin in Pittsburgh this past winter.  He's been trying to learn a slider serve that is the typical trademark of a lefty but until this winter, it just wasn't there.  Now however, that serve has become a nice addition to his arsenal." (Coach Palko)