Gordon

Emily Gordon needed a change in strategy.

Grove City's junior had just dropped the first set, 6-2, against Bethlehem Catholic's Brenna Magliochetti in Saturday's PIAA Class AA girls tennis singles championship match at the Hershey Racquet Club.

“She is a great player. She is short and hits the ball low and hard,” said Gordon of Magliochetti. “She was unlike any other player in the tournament.”

Prior to the second set, Gordon had a talk with Grove City coach Jared Henshaw.

“She (Magliochetti) was staying low and just ripping the ball,” he said. “We changed Emily's strategy to going high so she couldn't get to it as fast. It threw off her timing just enough.”

Gordon rebounded with consecutive 7-5 wins to take the best-of-3 match, 2-1, earning the first-ever state singles tennis title for a Mercer County female.

The last District 10 player to win a PIAA title was McDowell's Kata Schertzer in 1990.

Though the tactical change helped Gordon pull even at one set apiece, she faced a 4-2 deficit in the third set.

“Both players were gassed,” said Henshaw. “I went down and told Emily, 'You're not tired. You're Emily Gordon.'”

Gordon went on to win five of the next six games to seal the victory.

“The fact that I had family, friends and teammates there supporting me, that's what got me through it,” said Gordon, who won her third straight District 10 title in October.

Gordon had defeated Trinity's Katherine Long, Central Cambria's Kourtney Cavalier and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart's Katherine Marks in the rounds leading up to the state final, losing just a combined seven games in the process.

Gordon did not lose a match this season.

“I treat every match as a big match no matter who I am playing,” she said. “In tennis, you never know what's going to happen.”