Sewickley Academy, Knoch help put Class 2A on the map
Knoch and Sewickley Academy have forged a nice rivalry on the tennis court over the past five seasons.
They have met in the WPIAL Class 2A finals every year in that time, with Sewickley owning a 4-1 edge in those matches, including a 41 win against the Knights in the championship last week at Washington & Jefferson. They have also seen each other in the state title match in 2019, when Sewickley Academy defended its title.
Last year, though, it was Knoch that won the WPIAL and went on to win the state championship. With that in mind, the Knights were nonplussed after their loss to Sewickley Academy in the WPIAL finals.
“I’ll take a state title over a WPIAL runner-up,” Knoch coach Nance Conlon said. “That’s the game plan.”
Even thinking that way shows just how far the WPIAL has come in a short amount of time thanks to the two programs. For years, WPIAL Class 2A girls tennis teams struggled when they reached the state tournament.
Year after year, the district would send its contingent to Hershey Racquet Club and the teams would consistently come back disappointed. For the first 18 seasons only one time — in 2011 when Sewickley Academy broke through — did a WPIAL school ever capture a state championship. That is, until 2018. Once again it was Sewickley Academy that won the title with a victory against Wyomissing, but then something happened the following year that had never happened since the PIAA first began hosting the state team finals in 2000.
There was an all-WPIAL final.
It only took 20 seasons, but Sewickley Academy defended its title against a Knoch team that was making its first appearance in the championship. Last year, the state final, for all intents and purposes, was held at Shady Side Academy when the same two teams battled for more than three hours before the Knights came away with a 3-2 victory that propelled them into the state tournament and to the first PIAA Class 2A championship in school history.
Of course, it was also the year that there was no chance for an all-WPIAL final. Last year, because of the COVID-19 restrictions, only the district champion qualified for the state finals.
This year, however, there is once again the chance that defending champion Knoch and 2018-19 champion Sewickley Academy could meet in the finals at Hershey Racquet Club on Saturday. The Knights made their way to Hershey with a 3-2 victory over District 10 champion Villa Maria, while Sewickley Academy made short work of District 5 champion Somerset in a 5-0 win.
Sewickley Academy will face District 3 runner-up Wyomissing in the quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Knoch, meanwhile, will take on District 2 representative Wyoming Seminary at 4 p.m.
Both would need two wins to set up a WPIAL finals rematch in the state championship at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Beaver, the third-place finisher out of the WPIAL, also made it through to the quarterfinals with a win against District 9 champion St. Marys. The Bobcats will take on Conrad Weiser at 2:30 p.m
Class 3A
Upper St. Clair was the first PIAA Class 3A girls team tennis champion in history when the class was first formed in 2000 when it knocked off Lower Merion, 4-1, back when the event was held at Blair Racquet Club in Altoona. The Panthers won their third — and most recent — state title in 2003 and have not appeared in the finals since losing to Peters Township in 2009.
That 2003 squad was also the last Upper St. Clair squad to win the WPIAL, that before the team ousted Latrobe, 4-1, to capture the 15th crown in school history. Now the Panthers will set their sights on ending another 18-year drought as they attempt to bring home a fourth state crown.
And they have even more incentive considering that they finished second to Latrobe last year and didn’t get to make the trip to the finals.
“I had two seniors in doubles and, for them not to, it was just bummed, but it is what it is,” Renee Connors said. “COVID demolished a lot of opportunities for a lot of teams.”
Last season, Spring Ford defeated Latrobe, 3-2, in the finals and it was back in the field as the fourth-place finisher out of District 1. The Wildcats, meanwhile, will take on District 1 champion Conestoga in the first match of the day at 8 a.m. Friday.
Upper St. Clair won’t open until 11 a.m. Friday when it faces District 1 runner-up Unionville. Peters Township, the WPIAL consolation-match winner, takes on District 1 third-place finisher Pennsbury at 12:30 p.m.
Of the eight teams in the quarterfinals, seven are from either the WPIAL or District 1. Spring- Ford, which will play State College, is the other District 1 quarterfinalist.