Will Nesbitt said he had never played tennis in winds as strong as the ones whipping through the Norwin High School courts Friday afternoon. But what happened to Nesbitt in the WPIAL tournament is what really blew Nesbitt away.

He won.

Only Butler's No. 3 singles player a year ago, Nesbitt won the Class AAA championship with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory against Pine-Richland's Bas Van Lent.

"I never expected this," Nesbitt said. "I wasn't playing very well for a while this year. I was losing to people I shouldn't and I didn't have much confidence. Things kind of just came together. This is a pretty big confidence booster."

Nesbitt, a junior, was the fifth seed for the WPIAL tournament, and he upset No. 1 seed Vivek Nimgaonkar of Shady Side Academy, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the semifinals Thursday. The title match also had to be considered an upset because Van Lent was the No. 2 seed and handily defeated Nesbitt twice this season.

"I admit I actually gave up pretty early in those other matches against him," Nesbitt said. "He was outplaying me, and I just felt there wasn't much I could do. This time, I definitely tried a lot harder."

After winning the first set, it looked as if Nesbitt was on his way to the title when he jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second. Then, Van Lent came on strong and evened the match. Nesbitt used his cautious style in the third set to run away with the win.