Hampton High School's Eric Fischer and Adam Jones squeaked out a third-place finish in their own section doubles tournament after being easily defeated in the Section 3-AA semifinals.

In short, they were fortunate to even qualify for the WPIAL Class AA doubles tournament.

But that doesn't matter to them now, because Fischer and Jones are WPIAL champions.

A pair of seniors, they defeated the Sewickley Academy team of Ben Greenberger and Jeff Mozur in the final, 6-2, 6-4, on May 1 and will compete in the PIAA tournament in Hershey.

They begin tomorrow against Lancaster Catholic's Rob Lyons and Pat Graver.

"We were pretty surprised because going into it [WPIALs], we weren't sure how far we could go," Jones said. "We had lost to both Sewickley teams earlier, so we were happy and surprised we won."

It is believed to be the first WPIAL boys' doubles championship for the school, according to Fischer, Jones and Talbots coach Colleen Geyer.

Fischer usually plays first singles and Jones second singles for Hampton, which advanced to the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class AA team tournament. The fact they had not played doubles too often might have contributed to the relative poor showing at the section tournament.

"I think in that section tournament, Eric and I were still getting used to being partners," Jones said. "We were more ready for the WPIAL tournament."

Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Adam Jones will be playing in tomorrow's PIAA championship tournament with doubles partner Eric Fischer Click photo for larger image.

Part of that preparation process involved teaming up to play first doubles in the Talbots' team match against Sewickley Academy earlier this month. There, they lost to Greenberger and Mozur, who were also the WPIAL doubles runners-up last season. Juniors Vik Sunder and Parth Sharma were the Panthers players who defeated Jones and Fischer in the section tournament semifinals, 6-1, 6-4.

Both defeats were avenged at the WPIAL tournament.

"It was really satisfying to beat Sewickley Academy because they are the best team out there," Fischer said.

Despite being seeded so low, Fischer and Jones entered the tournament with confidence because they had played all season in a section with the strongest collection of top-end talent in WPIAL Class AA.

All three PIAA Class AA doubles qualifiers from the WPIAL came from Section 3-AA and the top three finishers in the WPIAL singles tournament also hailed from the section (though Knoch's Brandon Anandan was disqualified for his on-court conduct in the WPIAL final).

"I kind of felt like we could win it after we got some more experience playing together," Fischer said. "When we actually won it, it was definitely satisfying because I don't think anyone expected us to."

The state championships are at Hershey Racquet Club.

"I think we both believe we can have a top-three finish," said Fischer, who will play at Allegheny College next year. "If we play like we did in the WPIALs, we'll have a chance."

In other high school tennis news from the PG North area, Sewickley Academy advanced to the final of the PIAA Class AA team tournament last weekend in Hershey. The four-time WPIAL champion Panthers won their first three matches last week by a combined score of 12-3 before losing to District 1 champion Lower Moreland, 3-2, in the championship match.

Two of the five matches went to three sets and two others featured tiebreakers. Sewickley Academy was playing in its third consecutive PIAA championship match, winning last season's title.

Both Sewickley Academy doubles teams will be playing in the PIAA tournament, beginning tomorrow. Panthers junior Matt Hoch, the WPIAL's No. 2 seed, will play in the PIAA Class AA singles tournament, and WPIAL Class AAA singles champion Casey Watt of Pine-Richland will be among the favorites in the PIAA Class AAA event.

WPIAL Class AA singles champion Alex Sinu, a junior from Quaker Valley High School, will participate in the PIAA singles tournament. The Quakers lost in the first round of the PIAA team tournament last weekend.

The Shady Side Academy team lost in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class AAA team tournament last week.