Huang leads North Allegheny to title

Ashley Huang has played some of the fastest tennis matches in the WPIAL, so it wasn’t much of a surprise Wednesday when the North Allegheny junior was the first one off the court in the Class 3A team final against Pine-Richland.

“We have a running little joke with Ashley the last couple of years, and this is nothing against any of her opponents because as a coach and as a player you always respect your opponents, but if Ashley has the chance, her job is to get off the court as quickly as possible,” North Allegheny coach Michelle Weniger said.

“She works hard, plays aggressively, plays quickly and she’s just continuing her tradition.”

Huang’s tradition was the catalyst for another, that being North Allegheny’s winning the WPIAL championship, as the Tigers rolled to their fifth consecutive title with a 5-0 victory over Section 2 rival Pine-Richland at Sewickley Academy.

It is the third-longest streak in WPIAL girls tennis history behind only Mt. Lebanon (1981-88) and Upper St. Clair (1994-2001), which each won eight in a row.

“I just go out there and play and, if I finish first, I finish first because it’s a team sport, and it’s all about the team,” Huang said. “It’s a nice feeling to win this three years in a row, and this is a new team this year since Anna and Tina are gone and it’s a really good feeling that we can do it without the Li sisters and NA is still really strong.”

Pine-Richland might have lost to its section rival, but this remains the best showing the Rams have had in the WPIAL playoffs. Despite previously having WPIAL doubles champions in Taylor Perz and Olivia Heim in 2009 and a state singles title from Marlys Bridgham in 2013, the Rams never competed in the team championships, much less earned a berth in the PIAA Class 3A tournament.

To even get to the final, seventh-seeded Pine-Richland had to defeat Upper. St. Clair, No. 2 seed Fox Chapel and third-seeded Mt. Lebanon. One of the biggest reasons they did was the addition of No. 1 singles player Melissa Vizcardo, a transfer from Texas and the No. 8 junior in the state.

“Melissa has just made the hugest difference to our team, and I really didn’t realize how good she was, and that has really helped our team,” Pine-Richland coach Janet Chappell said. “With her, we were able to put the other players into positions where they could win.”

Class 2A

Unlike North Allegheny, Sewickley Academy did not win its fifth consecutive WPIAL team title.

Instead, the Panthers won their fifth overall and first since 2014 with a 4-1 victory against Knoch on the Tigers’ home court. Knoch has never won a WPIAL team tennis title.

Sewickley Academy freshmen Evelyn Safar and Christina Walton won their singles matches, while the two doubles tandems, Lydia Elste and Alina Mattson at No. 1 and No. 2 Victoria Keller and Olivia McLeod swept their matches.

Both teams qualified for the PIAA Class 2A tournament that opens Oct. 24.