Mt. Lebanon pairs up for WPIAL tennis doubles title
Sophia Cunningham and Sylvie Eriksen may have been tossed together as a doubles tandem but their WPIAL tennis title was anything but arbitrary.
“It was just a mix. A random doubles team,” said Cunningham.
With Cunningham’s smash hits at the net and Eriksen’s consistent returns, the Mt. Lebanon duo defeated North Allegheny’s pair of Emily Wincko and Abbey Swirdsding, 6-0, 6-0, to win the Class AAA doubles title on Oct. 7 at Glenn Creek Tennis Club in South Park.
“Honestly,” said Eriksen, “our secret to success was playing as well as we could possibly play. We were playing our game and staying strong.”
“It was about staying hopeful,” added Cunningham. “We knew we could do it but it was just about staying confident. I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish.”
In winning a WPIAL championship, Cunningham and Eriksen earned a spot in Mt. Lebanon’s Hall of Champions, which is crowded with tennis tandems as the Blue Devils have won 13 overall doubles titles. It was the first, however, since Erin Gustine and Ting Yu won in 1992. Lebo also won championships in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1991.
While it took 30 years to produce a champion, it didn’t take long for Cunningham and Eriksen to find their winning formula. They joined forces shortly before the section doubles tournament commenced Sept. 28-29.
Cunningham is Lebo’s No. 1 singles player while Eriksen comprised half of school’s No. 2 doubles team. They were Section 4 runners-up and entered the WPIAL tournament seeded fifth.
“We work really, really well together,” explained Cunningham.
Cunningham and Eriksen made quick work of Wincko and Swirdsding. They swept the Tiger tandem even though they were the No. 2 seed and fourth-place finishers in last year’s tournament.
”It was a super, solid match,” Eriksen said.
”NA is super talented but we had to really stick with it and keep the momentum going and we were able to pull through,” added Cunningham.
Cunningham and Eriksen are hoping their success carries through the WPIAL team tournament. The Blue Devils are seeded No. 1 and championships are scheduled for Oct. 19 at the Janet L. Swanson Tennis Center on the Washington & Jefferson College campus.
”We hope this carries over,” said Cunningham. “We are so thankful for our teammates because they have been there for us. They are all very supportive.”
Cunningham and Eriksen were bolstered throughout the tournament by a large fan base, partly because the doubles tournament was held in the South Hills. The early rounds were played at Bethel Park High School before the finals were moved indoors due to inclement weather.
Cunningham and Eriksen opened action with wins over Pine-Richland’s Lily Hynds and Rachel Smith (10-1) and Baldwin’s Gabi Moder and Emma Overlingas (10-4). In their semifinal match, they topped Bethel Park’s Lily Sierka and Katie Peterson, 6-3, 7-6(7).
Sierka and Peterson pulled off the upset of the tournament when they toppled No. 1 Rachel Nath and Nichole Poltinnikov from Shady Side Academy in the quarterfinals.
Sierka and Peterson recovered from their semifinal loss to Cunningham and Eriksen to beat Fox Chapel’s Chanel Brun and Sienna Siegel, 6-1, 6-1, in the consolation match. With their third-place showing, Sierka and Peterson clinched the final berth for states
Sierka and Peterson will join Cunningham and Eriksen as well as Wincko and Swirsding in the PIAA tournament to be played Nov. 4-5 at the Hershey Racquet Club.
In Class AA, Kaitlyn Kuczinski and Delaney Fox claimed the final PIAA spot. The Chartiers Valley duo defeated Knoch’s Ava Santora and Jade Nether, 6-4, 6-2, in the third-place consolation final.
Notes
Earlier in the tournament, Brun and Siegel dispatched Evie Ellenberger and Claire Loomis of Upper St. Clair in the quarterfinals while Wincko and Swirsding eliminated Peters Township’s Adisyn and Keiran Moorhead in the first round of competition.