STATE COLLEGE — The State College Area High School girls tennis team seemed to be motoring along early in the season, but Lady Little Lions coach Jane Borden thought she could get more out of the roster and shuffled the lineup around.
One of the changes teamed senior Emily Zhang with a new doubles partner, Abby Chen, to fill the No. 1 position.
“I had to get used to her with only about half the season left,” Zhang said. “However, we figured it out.”
That they did.
The doubles teams took center stage in the District 6 Class 3A team tournament championship, sweeping their matches with visiting second-seed Hollidaysburg on Wednesday, Oct. 12, to propel undefeated State College to its third straight district team title, 3-0.
“It felt great to be able to win the team championship for a third time,” Zhang said. “We had a bit of pressure going into the match in defending our district title, but I think we stayed confident and trusting of each other throughout the whole match and ended up pulling through. I believe the reason that we have been so strong for these past three years, especially this year, is that we have a deep team, which includes both strong doubles and singles players.”
By improving to 17-0, the Lady Little Lions earned a spot in the PIAA tournament, which begins on Tuesday, Oct. 25.
Zhang and Chen were 6-3, 6-4 winners over Regan McKee and Nina Meadows, while the No. 2 duo of Juju Dye and Ephasinia Shimelis came back to overcome CeCe Williams and Sarah Neatrour in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6).
Quiana Guo scored State College’s other point at first singles, turning back Gretta Rhodes in a rematch of the past two D6 AAA singles’ finals, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
When the Lady Little Lions got their third point, the other two singles matches were abandoned. Kelly Steel had just evened her match with Megan Ferris, 5-7, 6-4, while Bea Fernandez-Medina was about to move to a third set after splitting the first two against Rachel Gallagher 7-6 (2), 5-7.
“I’m really proud of the girls,” Borden said. “It was a great matchup and Hollidaysburg jumped out to early leads in almost every match. Our girls kept working and never gave up. They played point by point and worked their way into their matches. We competed like champions and the girls really earned their victory.
“There was really no one player that stood out. Every single player had a hand in the win. Slow starts could have really hurt us, but everyone stayed focused and worked hard.”
Guo, Zhang, Steel and Allison Norloff are the seniors on the team who got to carry off the trophy for the third time in a row.
“It’s really exciting to have won team districts. Of course, winning district singles is fun, but the team aspect in team districts makes it even better,” said Guo, who also has won district singles and doubles twice each. “I remember last year we went to Hershey together and played Scattergories late into the night, which was super fun.”
Guo’s match itself wasn’t exactly fun and games at the start, as Rhodes came out with a revised game plan to win the opening set in just seven games after falling to the Lady Little Lion standout in the singles tournament finals last month for the second year in a row. Guo, though, adjusted her own approach to start the second set and prevailed.
“I was not expecting Gretta to come out and hit big because during districts, she played a softer game, so, when she started hitting aces and winners, I was surprised,” Guo said. “The second set, I was prepared. I started returning with a little more power and hitting deeper, really making her put the ball in play for longer and forcing her to make the errors.”
Zhang spoke to the rewarding feeling of securing another trophy for the Lady Little Lion program.
“We definitely had a goal of being undefeated for our regular season,” Zhang said, “so we worked hard at it and we definitely surpassed our expectations for this season.”
