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Medal Magic:Upper St. Clair beats Latrobe for WPIAL tennis title

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 6 min read
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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Upper St. Clair’s Maggie Stief returns a shot during a WPIAL team tennis championship match.

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Upper St. Clair's Hope Krawczyk makes solid contact on a shot at the net during No. 1 doubles play in the WPIAL team tennis championships. 

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Upper St. Clair’s Hope Krawczyk exchanges high-fives with doubles partner Leah Lund after their victory against Latrobe’s Maya Jain and Emily Pierce.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Upper St. Clair celebrated its first WPIAL team tennis title since 2003 after the Panthers defeated Latrobe for the Class AAA title.

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Upper St. Clair's Claire Loomis won her No. 3 singles match to assure Upper St. Clair a 4-1 victory against Latrobe in the WPIAL Class AAA team championship match.

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Upper St. Clair's Evie Ellenberger plays No. 2 singles for the Panthers girls tennis team. 

Upper St. Clair’s Hope Krawczyk and Leah Lund believe in magic.

Before the WPIAL Class AAA team tennis championship match, the duo rubbed a gold medal won by their basketball team in March.

A few hours later, they had a matching medal as the Upper St. Clair girls tennis team defeated Greater Latrobe, 4-1, for its first WPIAL title since 2003 and 15th in school history.

“Yes, I do wholeheartedly believe there was magic to the medal,” Lund said. “One hundred percent.”

Krawczyk agreed. She explained how her home room teacher, Danny Holzer, who is also USC’s boys basketball coach, came into class with the medal. He told her to rub it for good luck. She took it to the match and made her teammates do the same.

“I really think it helped. I think it really pulled us through for the win,” Krawczyk said.

Talent and composure also went a long way in deciding the match.

The Panthers came into the finals as 2020 runners-up to Latrobe, having lost last year’s finals, 4-1, at Bethel Park.

USC head coach Renee Connors said last year’s experience benefited the Panthers.

“This team became more consistent,” Connors said. “It was more a mental thing for them. This year they mentally grew to be stronger, keeping themselves up and positive.

“It was all mental toughness, no negativity and fighting for every point. They put it all together, stayed focused and got it done.”

Upper St. Clair’s Maggie Stief performed quickly and methodically in dispatching Latrobe’s Jenna Bell at No. 1 singles, 6-4, 6-0, to set the tone for the the match played at the Janet Swanson Tennis Center on the Washington & Jefferson College campus.

“It was very important that Maggie came out strong,” Connors said. “She was kind of down because the last couple of matches the team was winning and she wasn’t.”

Stief lost at No. 1 singles to Kat Wang of Peters Township in the semifinals but USC knocked off the Indians, 3-2. She also lost her match against Shady Side Academy but the Panthers won that quarterfinal showdown, 3-2.

“I said ‘Maggie there have been matches where you had won and the others lost. You have to know that everybody here plays an important role,'” Connors said.

“If you defeat yourself, you have to learn from your losses to come back that much stronger. I think Maggie dug down inside and she played the way she wanted to play. You could tell by the way she was walking on the court with confidence.”

Krawczyk and Lund kept a positive attitude through the ups and downs of their match against Latrobe’s Maya Jain and Emily Pierce.

After winning the first set, 7-5, they held a 5-4 edge in the second set before faltering. Latrobe forced a tiebreaker but Krawczyk and Lund regrouped. They swept to victory with a 7-1 edge during the extension of play.

“Leah and I work together and we love to communicate,” said Krawczyk. “I think that helped us over the harder parts of the match.

“Whenever we let them back in the second set I think us talking and us focusing on controlling the ball and just communicating overall and keeping it simple instead of trying to go for really hard shots helped us the most,” she added. “We took control and put them away for sure.”

Last year’s loss to Latrobe stuck in the back of Lund’s mind. She said she used that defeat to drive her through the match.

“We remembered,” she said. “We were like revenge. Let’s just do this. Get it done. When we got down a few times, we pulled back together and it worked out.”

USC hammered out a win at No. 2 doubles as Izzy Yoos combined with Victoria Semenov for a 6-4, 6-0 victory against Josie Marts and Bridget McHugh.

“Our doubles teams played well,” Connors said. “We felt they would be important. We told our girls that they can’t be tentative. They had to take over the net because whoever did that was going to win the match.”

USC’s Claire Loomis contributed a two-set sweep, 6-3, 7-5, against Avery Massaro at No. 3 singles.

Evie Ellenberger dropped a 6-2, 6-2 decision for USC to Carolina Walters at No. 2 singles.

With the victory, USC advanced to the first round of the PIAA tournament.

Last year, the Panthers were denied a trip to the state finals. USC will face the District 1 champion Oct. 26. The quarterfinals, semifinals and championships will be held Oct. 29-30 at the Hershey Racquet Club.

“COVID demolished a lot of things for a lot of teams last year,” Connors said.

“We are excited to be going to states. We will have to come off the high (of a WPIAL championship) but I think they will get back into the groove,” she added. “We’ll take it one point at a time. Stay focused and not get ahead of ourselves. The nerves will start hitting so we’ll need to clam down, stay in the match and stay mentally focused.”

And the Panthers will be sure to keep their new good luck charm close by during their PIAA postseason run.

“We need to take the medal with us because I think maybe we have the makings of a state championship team,” Lund said. “We will see but right now being WPIAL champions feels amazing.”

“It’s super exciting,” added Krawczyk. “We are really happy about it.”

Upper St. Clair edged section rival Peters Township, 3-2, to advance to the WPIAL Class AAA team tennis finals.

In the semifinals played at the Bethel Park High School tennis courts, the Panthers clinched the victory with a three-set decision at No. 1 doubles.

USC’s Leah Lund combined with Hope Krawczyk for a 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-4 win against PT’s Kesran Moorhead and Abby Siconolfi

USC also won at No. 2 singles and No. 2 doubles.

USC’s Evie Ellenberger handled Adisyn Moorhead, 6-1, 6-1.

The Panthers’ Issy Yoos and Shannon Zhou beat Alexa Goldsmith and Kendra Jones, 6-0, 6-1.

PT won at No. 1 singles and No. 3 singles.

The Indians’ Kat Wang defeated Maggie Stief, 6-2, 6-2, while Bella Englesberg beat Claire Loomis in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.

Peters Township rebounded from its loss to USC to clinch the last PIAA tournament berth. The Indians defeated Fox Chapel, 4-1, in the WPIAL consolation match played at Sewickley Academy.

This will be the Indians’ third PIAA appearance in four seasons, previously qualifying as the 2019 champion and 2018 third-place finisher.

USC opened tournament action with a sweep, 5-0, of Seneca Valley. The Panthers edged Shady Side Academy, 3-2, in the quarterfinals.

Latrobe meanwhile defeated Oakland Catholic, 4-1, Mt. Lebanon, 3-2, and Fox Chapel, 3-2, to reach the championship match.

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