Boys team has a full contingent of girls

Tri-State Sports & News Service

Over the years there have been girls who have competed for boys tennis teams for various reasons.

Some did so because an injury kept them out of the fall season, others because they just wanted the challenge.

In the case of Karli and Tanya Timko, ChartiersHouston did not have a full girls team which meant they would have been excluded from playing doubles together, so they opted to play with the boys team in 2009. The result was a WPIAL Class 2A doubles title for the Bucs.

There have even been two girls — Quaker Valley’s Annie Houghton in 2006 and Sarah Shashura of California in 2010 — who have won the WPIAL Class 2A boys singles title.

Seton-LaSalle, though, has something completely different. The Rebels field a fully integrated co-ed tennis team that competes in Class 2A Section 4.

“It’s a really interesting dynamic. Socially, it’s interesting and I think it’s more fun in a lot of ways,” Seton-LaSalle coach Bernie Wilke said. “It just seems like there’s a balance and it certainly makes it more fun.”

No other team competing in boys tennis in the WPIAL this season has a completely co-ed program. Seton-LaSalle also has senior Emily Barton playing in the No. 1 singles spot for the second consecutive year, while freshman Savannah LaFerriere is playing in the No. 3 slot.

“I think it’s definitely good for the girls to play against the boys because it makes them better,” Wilke said. “In high school, the boys are starting to get a little bigger and stronger, so it’s good for them to be hitting with them … and I always thought it was a little bit of a blessing for them to play together.”

Though LaFerriere can learn and grow playing against a team’s third-best singles player, Barton, a Thiel recruit, is first on the firing line against the best the opposition has to offer. That might not be a difficult chore in some sections, but this one features two of the best in the state in reigning WPIAL and PIAA champion Luke Ross of Sewickley Academy as well as 2015 WPIAL champion and 2016 WPIAL and state runnerup Luke Phillips of Carlynton.

“She’s just bearing down,” Wilke said. “She knows they’re better and she’s learning from the other players because, when your top player is a girl, you can show no fear.”

This has not been a oneyear arrangement as last year’s team was almost an even split. And it’s something that will continue into the future.

“I’ve never had any issues with them getting along and not respecting each other,” Wilke said. “They just all get along no matter the gender. They’re encouraging and it helps them socially because it helps them to interact outside their own gender.”

Class 3A

As the regular season winds down to its final week, there are several key matchups slated that could decide section titles.

Both Latrobe and Hempfield already have defeated reigning Class 3A Section 1 champion Franklin Regional and will play Friday in a match that could decide first place. The Wildcats last won the section in 2015, but did not make the playoffs last year while the Spartans lost in the first round to second-seeded North Allegheny a year ago.

Like it did for the girls, the WPIAL switched the playoffs format beginning this year. Instead of the singles and doubles tournaments being contested followed by the team championships, the teams will compete first followed by the individual finals.