Tigers rule at first day of Section Singles
by: Dom Gliozzi
Each of the WPIAL’s 3A Section 2 girls’ tennis teams sent their best competitors to the 2026 Singles Tournament, and the best results of the day were turned in by two Tigers. Enjoying the home cooking on the NASH courts, fabulous and fantastic freshman Winni Hayward and super-speedy superb sophomore Sammy Leeman found their way to the semi-final matches where they both won, setting up an all North Allegheny final. Both players competed over a five hour stretch of high heat and humidity which saw the overall index reach 90-degrees. Hayward and Leeman turned up their own heat on their opponents with sizzling play from start to end.
After the coaches meeting declared Hayward the number one seed, she dispatched Shaler’s #2, 10-0 in the first round and Pine-Richland’s #2, 10-1 in the second round. Leeman was anointed the number three seed by the coaching committee and started off with a 10-0 win over the Mars #2 in round one and a 10-1 win over North Hills’ #1 in the second tilt. Moving on from 10 game pro sets, the two Tigers found their way into the two semifinals, to be decided in best-of three-sets competition. Neither Tiger needed three. Hayward defeated Mars’ #1 Gianna Kampian 6-2, 6-2 while Leeman defeated Pine Richland’s #1 Sonaya Arora, 6-1, 6-0 to punch their tickets to tomorrow’s final match. Both Hayward and Leeman produced plenty of dynamic shots as they controlled play in their respective contests.
The exciting championship match-up of the two Tiger finalists, Winni Hayward and Sammy Leeman, will take place on the NASH courts Thursday, at 11:30 AM. The winner takes home the section crown. All four of the semi-finalists are guaranteed a berth in the WPIAL 3A Singles Tournament, which begins on Wednesday, September 23.
