Upper St. Clair senior wins section tenis title
Maggie Stief of Upper St. Clair won the Section 4 tennis singles title and qualified for the WPIAL Class AAA Championships.
A senior, who finished third in the 2021 finals, defeated Mt. Lebanon’s Sophia Cunningham in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5, in the section finals played Sept. 16 at Bethel Park High School.
Stief made her way to the championship match with a semifinal win, 7-5, 6-3, against her teammate, Evie Ellenberger. In the opening rounds of play, Stief dispatched Canon-McMillan’s Frankie Mollenaur, 10-1, and South Fayette’s Hannah Patterson, 10-3.
A junior, Cunningham advanced to the finals with a three-set win against Bethel Park’s Lily Sierka, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. In opening round pro sets, Cunningham beat Kristina Bozek of Trinity, 10-0, and BP’s Katie Peterson, 10-7.
In the consolation match, Ellenberger dispatched Sierka, 6-2, 6-3, to finish third.
Before falling to Stief, Ellenberger beat Peters Township’s Adisyn Moorhead, 10-8, and South Fayette’s Aysuhi Jani, 10-2. Sierka had defeated Trinity’s Julia Luzar, 10-0, and Lebo’s Jessie Yang, 10-5.
The top four finishers advanced to the WPIAL championships played Sept. 21-22 at North Allegheny and Bethel Park High School.
The quest for doubles titles commences with section action and concludes with championship play Oct. 5-6.
The WPIAL team championships are Oct. 19 at Janet L. Swanson Tennis Center on the Washington & Jefferson College campus. First through quarterfinal rounds of team action will be played at home sites while the semifinals will be held at a neutral facility.
In Section 2-AA action, Chartiers Valley’s Kaitlin Kuczinski finished runner-up to South Park’s Nicole Kempton. She lost to Kempton, 6-1, 6-1, in the championship match.
A sophomore, Kuczinski qualified for the WPIAL Championships by finishing in the top 3. She shut out Washington’s Alex Wilson and West Mifflin’s Lily Smith, 10-0, in the opening pro set rounds. She posted a straight set victory, 6-3, 6-3, against South Park’s Haley Spitznagel in the semifinals.