Peters Township pair places third in WPIAL doubles tournament
Jenn Holcombe and Megan Hixon captured the Section 4 doubles title. The Peters Township duo then went on to finish third in the WPIAL tournament and qualify for the PIAA championships set for Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in Hershey.
Holcombe and Nixon outlasted Lindsey Miller and Devin Gramley from Shady Side Academy, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in the consolation match while the Fox Chapel duo of Laurel Shymansky and Amanda Nord defeated Tina Li and Eugenia Lee from North Allegheny for the WPIAL Class AAA title.
In the semifinals, Holcombe and Nixon succumbed to Shymansky and Nord, 6-2, 6-0. They had reached the Final Four by beating Shady Side’s tandem of Mara Barron and Maria Jovin, 10-2, and Hampton’s duo of Lucy Gloninger and Rachael Harrison, 10-2, in the opening rounds of play.
Holcombe and Hixon began their quest for a district title at the sectional level.
After a first-round bye, Holcombe and Hixon blanked Jess Frampton and Hannah Rieger from Chartiers Valley, 10-0. The Indians also dispatched CV’s duo of Margo Madson and Danielle Ferrer, 10-3, to reach the semifinals.
After winning in two sets, 6-3, 6-2, against Montour’s Amanda Bruscemi and Isabella Sodowski, Holcombe and Hixon defeated Mt. Lebanon’s Marikate Reese and Christine Laderer, 6-3, 6-4, for the championship.
In the third-place consolation match, Skylar Morgan and Lauren Carey succumbed to Bruscemi and Sodowski, 6-4, 7-5. Morgan and Carey had lost to Reese and Laderer in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-4.
Morgan and Carey as well as Reese and Laderer participated in the WPIAL tournament. While Morgan and Carey lost to Miller and Gramley in the first round, 10-6, Reese and Laderer won one match, 10-5, against Marley Shovlin and Giovanna Elo of Oakland Catholic, before they dropped a 10-1 pro set to Li and Lee in the second round.
Other local tandems competing in the sectional included: Upper St. Clair’s Julia Gross and Jenna Kunselman as well as Lauren and Rachel Piechnick; Peters Township’s Alex Garcia and Meredith Rohn; Jessica Fanning and Alayna Jones of Bethel Park; Canon-McMillan’s Angie Majestic and Julia Severyn as well as Liz Beachy and Maddy Schratz; and BP’s Rachel Dodson and Sam Jenson.
In Class AA, Alyssa Snodgrass and Savannah Curry captured the Section 1 title with a 6-2, 6-3 win against their South Park teammates Holly Barwatt and Angela DeRose. Snodgrass and Curry reached the WPIAL semifinals before falling to runners-up Anne and Mattie Taylor from Beaver, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. While the Taylors lost the WPIAL title to Quaker Valley’s duo of Farrah and Zoe Bojalad, Snodgrass and Curry lost their bid for a PIAA berth when they dropped a 7-5, 6-4 decision to Emily and Catherine Armstrong of Valley in the consolation match.
Other local Class AA pairs teams included: Bailey Burgess and Maggie Frost as well as Maria Cosantino and Laren Kanavy from Bishop Canevin along with Amber Palmer and Mallory Stump as well as Kira Furlong and Sarah Riley from Keystone Oaks.
Team tournament
The WPIAL team tournament for girls’ tennis commences Oct. 8. All first-round matches start at 3 p.m. Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair, Peters Township, Bethel Park and Canon-McMillan have all qualified.
The Lebo ladies, who won the section title with a 9-0 mark, will face the winner of Baldwin vs. Penn-Trafford in their first match. The Lebo ladies are seeded second in the tournament behind undefeated North Allegheny.
Peters Township, which finished runner-up to Lebo, hosts Moon while Upper St. Clair entertains Hampton in their first-round matches. Bethel Park is on the road against Pine-Richland, which only lost to NA in league action, while Canon-McMillan visits Shady Side Academy, which sports an unblemished 8-0 section mark and features the WPIAL singles champion Ananya Dua.
While USC finished third in section behind Lebo and Peters, the Hawks and Lady Macs finished tied for the fourth and final playoff spot with Montour.