Tigers take first and third place at Section Doubles
by: Dom Gliozzi
Despite an early morning start time, the two Tigers teams participating in the Section 2 Doubles Tournament found the brilliant sunshine to their liking and responded with equally brilliant play on Thursday. Leading the way, junior tri-captain Mia Kaufman and sophomore tri-captain Sammy Leeman successfully defended their crown as the #1 seed. Taking on Pine-Richland’s #1 team of Sonaya Arora and Eve Pellathy, the Tigers dominated from the start. Aggressive play combined with excellent serves and strategically sound return games paved the way for a 6-1, 6-0 triumph.
Playing for third place and a good seed for WPIALs, the second Tiger team of senior tri-captain Remi Hayward and junior Medha Thirumala took on P-R’s #2 duo, Lucy Hynds and Story Wozniak. The third-seeded Tigers roared out of their cage for a 6-0 win in the first set. The Rams responded with a 6-0 marker in the second. In high school tennis, the team that wins the second set in a three-set contest goes on to win the third set 85% of the time. That time was not today! In an epic see-saw battle that saw numerous breaks, The Tigers were serving 5-4 for the match but were broken. Undeterred, they broke back to go up 6-5 and then served out the contest with Thirumala serving well under pressure while Hayward provided key winners in the pressure cooker. The home crowd roared like Tigers in approval after match point.
All four of the second day contestants are guaranteed a berth in the WPIAL 3A Doubles Tournament, which begins on Wednesday, October 7 at Bethel Park. Start times and seedings will be released early next week. In the meantime, the Tigers host Franklin Regional in an exhibition on Monday, October 5, which will also be senior night.
