Harriton Duo Take State Tennis Title

Harriton juniors Max Blumenthal and Sam Borowsky are still reveling in the PIAA AA boys' tennis doubles title they won May 28 in Hershey, beating Fairview High's Jimmy Fitzgibbon and Ryan Rothman 6-1, 6-3.

After what coach Jack Ladden characterized as a "shaky" first round, the tandem coasted to the title, winning every set they played.

"It really felt amazing the moment we got the win," said Borowsky, a Georgetown aspirant who's been playing tennis with and against Blumenthal since childhood. "It was the culmination of a lot of hard work."

For Blumenthal, the title took a huge monkey off his back. Several, really.

His twin sister, Marni, has been a member of the last three of the Harriton girls' seven consecutive state championships and this fall added another trophy to her overflowing case when she won her own state doubles championship.

"When I was up there, all the officials knew me as Marni's little brother—my sister Marni," admitted Blumenthal, whose older brother also won a tennis title of his own seven years ago. "There was all this pressure of, 'Are you gonna win this time?' So it was a big relief when we won it."

"Now I'm making my own name," he added. "Now I'm known as Max, not Marni's little brother."

Coach Ladden said the pair are deserving of recognition.

In the seven years he's been coaching the Harriton boys and girls—a run that includes seven state championships for the girls team, and state berths in four out of seven years for the boys—Ladden calls Blumenthal and Borowsky the best doubles team he's ever coached.

"They dominate and they intimidate at doubles," Ladden said. "Doubles is a game where you want to be at the net, you want to make people miss shots, and they have all of those characteristics. They have great overheads, they serve well, and the one player in particular at the net, Max, just has a tremendous game."

There's a gestalt effect also with the dominant duo, said Ladden. The whole exceeds the sum of its parts.

"They're pretty strong as individual players, but even when they were freshman they still played doubles the way it is supposed to be played. It's just a natural thing for them," said Ladden.

One of the reasons playing together has come so naturally for the tandem is their handedness: Borowsky is a lefty, Blumenthal a righty.

"We use that to our advantage on the court—position ourselves so we can both get our forehand for example," said Blumenthal. "Plus, a lot of time you just get the two righties, so it's definitely an advantage serving lefty/righty, because it keeps the other team off balance. In this tournament, we just held serve the entire time."

Maybe the largest reason for their success is of the personal variety though. The two are great friends off the court, and that closeness bleeds through to their performance on it.

"We know each other so well," said Blumenthal. "I know his strengths, he knows my strengths. He knows how to keep me going, I know how to keep him going. We don't get down on each other. We're just a support behind one another."