Senior Ethan Vipond and Bellwood French exchange student, Paul Lemaire, made Tyrone history on May 26th by earning third in the state in doubles.

“Tennis is a tough sport in the sense that schools in our area typically don’t get out of the first round at Hershey. So to get to third place is a big honor and we should be very proud of the guys,” said Varsity Tennis Coach Randy Irvin.

The two boys traveled to Hershey for their first match on Friday, May 25th at 1:30. They played Lower Moreland and won 6-1, 6-0.

After just winning in the first round, Vipond and Lemaire had already gone farther than anyone at Tyrone ever has.

However, the boys were just getting started.

Their second match on Saturday was at five against Trinity Catholic.

Vipond and Lemaire lost the first set 4-6 and won the next two, 6-3, 6-2, ending Friday undefeated and feeling good.

“We were confident because we already had 2 victories, so we knew that we had a big chance to do something great the following day,” said Lemaire.

The boys played again on Sunday at 11 against Sawickly Academy.

Their first set ended 6-6. However, in the tiebreaker, their opponents got the best of them and won 7-5.

In the second set, the Tyrone duo won 6-4.

Being 1-1 in the match, the third set would determine who would win and move onto the final match.

During the last, high-stake set, Tyrone and Sawickly Academy were tied in the set 4-4 when a game changing shot occurred.

“I hit a shot deep in the corner when both teams were at the net. The one kid sprinted back and got the ball when me and Paul thought we had already won the match but the kid hit a beautiful shot that neither me or Paul could get to. They then won that game and went up 5-4 with Paul’s serve next which we won which made it 5-5 and they won the next two points to make it 7-5. If we would’ve won that point at 4 all, we would’ve won the third set and made it to the championship,” said Vipond.

Sawickly Academy ended up earning first at States, which shows how challenging of competitors they were.

The match lasted nearly three hours.

Even though the boys took an L, they fought hard and were only two points away from playing in the finals.

“When we lost, I was just thinking about the next one. We had one more match to make something great. So I was even more motivated to play well for the small final,” said Lemaire.

The Tyrone team played against Masterman at 4:30.

They lost the first set 3-6 and won the next two 7-5, 6-2 , finally securing third place.

“I really loved it! Being 3rd [in PA] for my only year in the US is really fun! Playing away for a weekend was [a] first time [for me] and I really liked it,” said Lemaire.

“[States] was an amazing experience with a lot of great players. It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said Vipond.