Champ favored, but plenty of contenders
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Everything about last season was a question mark for Maria Santilli.
She had health issues after she sustained a broken ankle shortly before the start of school. The Norwin No. 1 singles player had also never been past the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals and was still trying to weigh her collegiate options.
Now healthy with a WPIAL and PIAA championship under her belt and a verbal commitment to Cincinnati, this Knights senior has answered every question but one — whether she has what it takes to repeat.
“Honestly, I’m just going to take it as I have every other year and just do my best and kind of have fun with it,” Santilli said. “I don’t really have as much pressure because I already have my scholarship, so I just have to keep working and try to get myself better for college.”
Santilli is the No. 2ranked senior in the state, but there are plenty of WPIAL players in the top 10 in their respective classes that she could see in the WPIAL singles playoffs.
Montour’s Isabela Paixao, a semifinalist last year, is ranked No. 5 among seniors while Ashley Huang of North Allegheny, a former WPIAL and PIAA doubles finalist, is No. 5 among juniors. Sophomores Bethany Yauch of Baldwin (No. 2), a WPIAL semifinalist a year ago, along with WPIAL and state doubles champion Charlotte James of Fox Chapel (No. 5) and WPIAL singles runner-up Marlo Schiffman from Upper St. Clair also have to be considered challengers.
Perhaps the one player who could end up being the biggest surprise is Ava Catanzarite of North Allegheny, who is perhaps the most highly regarded freshman to come into the WPIAL single Plum’s Ronit Yurovsky in 2008. Catanzarite is the No. 1ranked freshman in the state and No. 33 in the country in her class.
Adding Catanzarite will go a long way toward softening the blow of the fourtime defending champion Tigers losing their top two singles players from 2016. Catanzarite immediately becomes one of the team’s top two singles players and will make for a tough combination with Huang.
“There is that strong potential chance that a state title, a WPIAL title and a section title, that is a possibility,” North Allegheny coach Michelle Weniger said. “I have to coach knowing that I have good athletes and it’s my job to keep the girls focused.”
Class 2A
Katherine Marks went through a major adjustment period last year when she left a team at Montour to become an independent at Our Ladyof the Sacred Heart.
There were no other players around her, no matches two or three times a week, just her own personal training schedule to prepare her for the Class 2A Section 2 singles tournament. And all she did was knock off the defending WPIAL singles champion, earn the No. 1 seed in the tournament and knock off freshman Elle Santora of Knoch to bring home the Chargers first WPIAL tennis title.
This year, though, she’s ready for the grind. And to defend her title.
“I’m just hoping to stay on track and do as well as I did last year, but the main thing is to keep focused and not feel the pressure,” Marks said. “I just stay on my same practice schedule and work with my coaches like I do every other day.”
Marks only dropped six games in the WPIAL tournament last year and would have to be considered a prohibitive favorite to be the first to repeat at the Class 2A level since Cate Stewart of Quaker Valley won three in a row from 2005-07.
Beaver Area is also looking to repeat as team champion, but the Bobcats will have a difficult time replacing their four senior starters from last year, including their top two singles players. Second-place finisher Neshannock is in the same situation.
Indiana may be the team to beat coming into the season. The Little Indians bring back No. 1 singles player Kelsey Heckert, a senior who was a WPIAL doubles champion last year, as well as senior Lauren Bertig, who was on the losing Indiana doubles team in the WPIAL finals.