Norwin’s Santilli downs freshman ace for 3A title
North Allegheny freshman Ava Catanzarite faced almost every top singles player in the WPIAL during the Tigers run to their fifth consecutive Class 3A team title or in the individual singles tournament.
Only one name was absent from the impressive list of players she had knocked off — Maria Santilli.
That box remains unchecked.
Santilli, a Cincinnati recruit, had her hands full with the young lefthander, but, in the end, the Norwin senior held it together and pulled out a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Catanzarite at North Allegheny to win her second consecutive WPIAL Class 3A singles title. She is the fourth consecutive individual player who won a WPIAL singles title to repeat joining Ronit Yurovsky of Plum (2009-11), Callie Frey of Mt. Lebanon (2012-13) and Shady Side Academy’s Ananya Dua (2014-15).
“Honestly, I was so excited and, when she hit the ball out, I didn’t even know what planet I was on,” Santilli said. “I couldn’t even believe it. I was nervous coming into it and, when I woke up, I realized today was the day and I have to repeat this and I kept my mental game strong and kept it together throughout the whole match.” She needed to. Catanzarite, the No. 2 seed in the tournament and the top-ranked freshman in the state, pushed her on every point. Though the two didn’t have many long rallies, both worked mostly from the baseline and pounded volleys back and forth at each other.
“It was a really good experience, and I faced a lot of good players, especially one on my team [third-place finisher Ashley Huang], but it was a great experience because I had a lot of support along the way,” Catanzarite said.
“Being No. 2 carried some pressure, but it gave me confidence, too, because I thought that I could do this and I could get to the finals.”
What Santilli did well was put Catanzarite on the defensive early with quick service breaks in both sets. With a margin for error, she was able to make a mistake here and there that did not harm her quest for a repeat.
“The hardest part was that Ava is just such a fierce competitor and she’s always in every point and she made me work for every one,” Santilli said. “This was definitely harder this year, I’m not going to lie because the semis were the same because I played the same girl [Isabela Paixao of Montour] and…not saying that Marlo [Schiffman] wasn’t tough, but Ava is a great competitor.”
Schiffman, the Upper St. Clair sophomore who finished second a year ago, was disqualified from entry by the WPIAL because she did not play in enough of her team’s matches during the regular season.
Sophomore Bethany Yauch of Baldwin, the thirdplace finisher last season, also did not compete this year because of a late season appendectomy.
Though Santilli repeated, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart junior Katherine Marks did not. The defending Class 2A champion dropped a 6-4, 6-1 match against Knoch freshman Laura Greb. She is the first freshman to win the title since California’s Sarah Shashura in 2008.
Marks had defeated Greb, 7-5, 6-3, in the Section 3 tournament final.
“In the sectional, I was making a lot of errors myself and knew that I had to be more consistent and a little faster and that, eventually, she would make a mistake,” Greb said.
“This is amazing, and I can’t even describe it.”
All four finalists and the winners of the third-place consolation matches, Huang and Knoch freshman Brooke Bauer, qualified to compete in the PIAA singles tournament Nov. 3-4 at Hershey Racquet Club.