Field is wide open for Class 3A team tournament

Tri-State Sports & News Service

For the past five years, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that North Allegheny was going to win the WPIAL Class 3A team tennis title.

Before the season, the trophy could have been shipped to McCandless for safe keeping and taken up its spot in the Tigers trophy case until it was officially handed over after the playoffs.

“Knowing when you were driving into North Allegheny the last couple of years, you’re telling the team ‘We’re going to win, we’re going to win’ and then you get ripped,” Shady Side Academy coach Jeff Miller said. “Those girls were just great.”

This season, however, things are different.

North Allegheny lost three of its top four players to either injury or apathy in training camp and, as a result,

For coverage of high school volleyball, visit postgazette.com. the team lost a non-section match to Moon which ended a 25-match winning streak that dated back to the 2016 PIAA finals. With that many players out, the Tigers have come back to the pack which could mean the end of their five-year championship run.

“I think it’s a wide-open field and it’s a lot more fun,” Miller said. “It’s been boring and, even when you’re on the winning side, it’s boring even though it’s not that boring when you’re winning. I’ll take that any time.”

Shady Side Academy won its previous title in 2009 then finished as a runner-up for five consecutive years — to Peters Township for two years before losing three consecutive times to North Allegheny. When the Indians and Tigers faced off in a non-section match this season, it ended in a 2-2 tie as rain prohibited the conclusion of the deciding fifth match.

Shady Side Academy also has two of the top singles players in the WPIAL at the top of their lineup in Class 3A doubles champions Elle Santora, currently the No. 9 junior in the state, and senior Aya Youssef. Peters Township has a solid lineup with No. 8 freshman Katalina Wang, Mt. Lebanon has a solid twosome at the top in Lauren Masteller and Camilla Buch, while and Moon doesn’t have superstars, but is consistent top to bottom.

“I think it’s great and I think this is what it’s all about,” Miller said. “What’s the Shakespeare line, ‘The past is prologue,’ right. We’ve beaten a couple of the good teams, we’ve lost to a couple of the good teams and now we’ve got to get ready.”

Class 2A

Sewickley Academy sophomore Simran Bedi may end up meeting Knoch sophomore Laura Greb in the PIAA Class 2A singles championship match with a state title on the line.

Before that, however, the two may have a rematch of the WPIAL singles finals scheduled for some time next week.

Sewickley Academy is the defending WPIAL Class 2A team champion and will likely enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed.

But Knoch surprised many when the Knights came out of the No. 4 seed in the 2017 tournament, upset No. 1 Neshannock, 4-1, and were in the thick of it before losing to the Panthers, 4-1, in the finals.

If they meet again, Greb and Bedi would take the court as the No. 1 singles players for their respective teams.