NA’s Huang captures singles crown in 3A

Ashley Huang has spent most of her career playing in the shadow of great players who have rolled through the North Allegheny program.

For two years she was the No. 3 singles player for the Tigers behind Anna and Tina Li and this season she took a backseat to freshman phenom Ava Catanzarite. Not anymore. Huang, the third-place finisher out of the WPIAL, pulled off a 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 upset of defending PIAA champion Maria Santilli of Norwin, then ousted 2016 state runner-up and District 12 champion Eliza Askarova of George Washington, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to win the PIAA Class 3A singles title Saturday at Hershey Racquet Club in Hershy, Pa.

It is the fifth consecutive singles championship won by a WPIAL player and the first for North Allegheny since Kelly Baritot in 1999.

“It was overwhelming because Maria was a state champion and I had to play my best,” Huang said. “Once I got through her I had to play Eliza and she’s also very good and I had to play my best again and then I won the title.”

While Huang won her first championship, Fox Chapel senior Amanda Nord closed out her high school career with her fourth Class 3A doubles title and third consecutive crown as she and sophomore Charlotte James rolled over Pine-Richland’s Melissa Vizcardo and Alyssa Sarver, 6-0, 6-4, in a rematch of the WPIAL final. Nord and James became the first duo to defend a state doubles crown in the highest classification since Sarah and Katie Granson of Bethlehem Freedom in 1995-96 and the first from the WPIAL to do so since Kelly Deep and Amy Hise of Moon in 1985-86.

Nord, who also won a PIAA title with Laurel Shymansky in 2015, is only the second player to win three state doubles titles. Deep won four in her career from 1983-86.