Dallastown has had impressive sports teams over the years, but a sport that isn’t always in the spotlight had another successful season this year. 

The Dallastown boys’ tennis team has won the YAIAA tournament for nine consecutive years and claimed the District III 3A title for four consecutive years.

Senior Hayden Koons has played tennis his whole life and has played on the varsity tennis team for four years. In his freshman year, he played number two, and the rest of high school, he played number one.

“Tennis has just always been a part of my family, every week of every year of my life has revolved around tennis. I’ve grown up with it and it’s just become a part of me that’ll stay for the rest of my life,” Koons said.

Senior Jacob Horn has been playing tennis for thirteen years and has been on varsity for four years.

“I got into tennis from my dad taking me out to the courts when I was younger and practicing with him a lot,” Horn said.

Both Koons and Horn plan to play club tennis in college, with Koons attending Penn State’s main campus and Horn attending James Madison University.

This year, Koons claimed a YAIAA boys tennis AAA singles title, battling against his teammate, Horn.

“Playing Jacob in the finals of the county tournament was honestly no fun. We’re best friends, and it’s really hard to find the motivation to beat him. You don’t get that killer instinct when it’s someone that you want to see win, too,” Koons said.

Koons and Horn also competed together and won the YAIAA boys tennis 3A doubles tournament. 

The duo also placed 2nd in the District III 3A doubles tournament, qualifying for states.

At the PIAA State Championship, Koons and Horn made it all the way to the finals of doubles bracket, losing in the last to Hempfield and taking home the silver medals.

Dallastown’s success is led by the boys’ tennis team head coach Mark Koons.

Koons has been coaching the boys’ tennis team for 35 years.

“Our team works incredibly hard at practice. The boys come to practice ready to work and get better. Our singles players focus on patterns of play, and our doubles players consistently focus on serve and returns and doubles tactics,” Coach Koons said.

The Dallastown boys’ tennis team has a record of 16-2, with their losses to Hempfield and Unionville early on in the season.

“The losses to Hempfield and Unionville definitely made the team a lot stronger. We look forward to those hard matches and try to get as much out of them as possible. They were both really close battles and could’ve gone either way. We left both of them knowing that we played well and that with intensity,” Koons said.

In the YAIAA boys tennis AAA doubles tournament, not only did Koons and Horn win, but their teammates Ryan  LoPiccolo and Ian Opitz won runner-up, and Nathaniel Erickson and Sebastian Ruiz also won third place.

“Our team has a lot of depth, so it was nice to see the boys recognized for all their efforts,” Coach Koons said.

Dallastown’s doubles teams swept the leaderboard!

“It felt great, I was really happy for my teammates because I know the amount of effort everyone has put in to achieve what we did,” Horn said.

The team had claimed their 4th district title in a row on May 8 at Hershey Racquet Center by beating Lancaster Country Day 3-1. This is the team’s 7th finals appearance as well.

The team looked to continue their success at the PIAA state tournament, which started on May 13 vs Downingtown East. The team won a tight match 3-2, and they advanced to play Lower Merion on May 16. Unfortunately, the team lost 3-0 and their season concluded.

Even though the team will lose a lot of seniors, they look to keep up their success in the years to come.