BVA’s Henson wins WPIAL championship

The Leopards’ Max Henson dominated North Catholic’s Justin Garvey, 6-1, 6-1, to roll to the Class 2A title.

Belle Vernon tennis player Max Henson had never played high school tennis before this season, being busy with national tournaments and competition in other circuits that allowed him to commit to Cleveland State as a junior this year.

After speaking with his family, he decided to give high-school tennis a try for the first time in 2025, and with a 6-1, 6-1 result against North Catholic’s Justin Garvey in Friday morning’s WPIAL Class 2A Championship, Henson solidified his status as the best player in his class.

“It’s pretty cool (to win the WPIAL),” Henson said. “I’ve never played WPIALs or high-school tennis before, so it’s pretty cool, and I got a medal. I like medals; I think it’s pretty nice.”

With the dominant win against a very strong opponent in Garvey, Henson completed his championship run to become the first-ever boys tennis champion from Belle Vernon. By defeating Blackhawk’s Mike Lanigan, Indiana’s Gabe Nettleton, Montour’s John Rohrkaste and Garvey, Henson joined fellow Leopard and classmate Gabby Dusi in sweeping the Class 2A singles’ brackets in tennis this year.

“It’s cool,” Henson said of being Belle Vernon’s first boys’ champion. “I’m happy to represent my hometown that I love, so it feels good. Hopefully I’ll do my best to bring back a state championship.”

Henson managed the title despite Belle Vernon not having a boys tennis team. Steve Dusi, father of Gabby, coached Henson for the school season and both were in attendance for the win at Bethel Park.

Henson’s game starts with a powerful serve, and it shone through well despite extremely cold temperatures that prevented the courts from properly drying and made the tennis ball feel more like a brick. Many of the Leopard’s points came from erroneous returns that Garvey just couldn’t manage to keep in play, and he also racked up several aces.

“I just had to aim for bigger targets,” Henson said. “I couldn’t go for crazy shots or winners. (I was) hitting some slice, hitting some different variety on my shots.”

His serve helped him take the first four games of the first set, even after starting the match down 0-30 as the cold made both players a bit rusty to open up action.

Garvey fought back well in the fifth game of the first set to make it 4-1, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the power of Henson. Belle Vernon’s top player won the next two games to claim a 6-1 victory in the first set.

The WPIAL semifinals and championship are played as sets in a bestof- three format. In those two matches combined, Henson only lost three games, defeating third-place Rohrkaste 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals.

Henson continued to play well and use his experience to his advantage in the second set en-route to an excellent display and his school’s first WPIAL gold medal.

Now, as he said, he’ll be looking to claim a state championship for Belle Vernon. PIAA play starts Tuesday, May 13th as Henson will slot in against the District 8 champion.

If he wins there, he will move on to the May 16th quarterfinals at Hershey Racquet Club. The semifinals and final match both take place on May 17th.