STATE COLLEGE — The State College girls tennis team continued its winning ways on Monday, Oct. 7, with a 5-0 victory over Central Mountain in the District 6, 3A team dual match semifinals at the State College Community Field.
Now 13-1 for the season, the Little Lions dominated Central Mountain by winning all five matches in two sets and recording five set shutouts.
In the singles matches, No. 1 Joanna Liu defeated CM’s Archie Walker, 6-1, 6-0, while No. 2 Ava Bechtel won over Molly Dubbs, 6-0, 6-0. No. 3 Emma Chen completed the singles sweep with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Jamily Brinker.
In the doubles matches, Abby Chen and Kazie Dingwell defeated Audra Eaton and Kassie Williams, 6-1, 6-1, and Audry Brush and Catherine Ma beat Leah Wian and Jess Akely, 6-2, 6-0.
“I’m thrilled for our girls because they have played consistently well all season,” State College coach Jane Borden said. “I know that (Central Mountain) was a weaker team without two of its players and that on Wednesday we are going to face a much stronger team in the finals.”
That team in the finals turns out to be Hollidaysburg, a winner over Altoona in the other 3A semifinal. And with just one team from D6 advancing to the state tournament, the match will be a winner-take-all situation for both teams.
“We only lost to Cumberland Valley,” Borden said. “And that was a close match, 3-2. The girls played really well, but we couldn’t come up with that final match. It was a three set match and we lost 6-4 in the third.
“I was really nervous about today because I knew their No. 1 and 2 were really good players. We have very good players at No. 1 and 2 as well, but we haven’t been pushed to play at that level most of the season so we’re asking the kids to go from zero to sixty pretty fast. That’s quite a jump.”
The first win of the day came with Bechtel’s 6-0, 6-0 win, and that was quickly followed by Liu’s win at No. 1.
Emma Chen was next with the clinching win, and then the two doubles teams finished the shutout.
“Emma, our No. 1 player, is only a sophomore, and she competes pretty high at the USTA level outside of our season,” Borden said. “She played No.1 last year as a freshman, and she consistently can win against the best players in the Mid-Penn.
“Ava (Bechtel) is a senior and she hasn’t played singles in her career and this year she jumped into the singles’ lineup and has been really steady. She has also been an overall leader on the team.
“And Emma (Chen) at No. 3 singles has been doing a great job, and she has been winning matches pretty easily all season long.”
The team will now go up against Hollidaysburg in the finals set for Wednesday, Oct. 9. Hollidaysburg, according to Borden, will be top-level competition.
“Hollidaysburg will be a much better opponent,” Borden said. “We are going to practice some today and tomorrow and work on our keys to playing good matches in both singles and doubles.”
