Net gains
JEFFERSON TWP — Class AA girls tennis certainly agrees with Knoch.
The Knights recently completed their second season in Double-A and have yet to lose a section match at that level. They are 16-0 in section matches, 27-3 overall in the past two seasons.
The losses have come to Mars (twice) and to Neshannock in the third round of last year's WPIAL team playoffs.
“This program grew a lot during our years in Triple-A,” fifth-year Knoch coach Nancy Conlon said. “We played powerhouse teams like North Allegheny and Pine-Richland, teams with five or six tournament players, while we had none.”
A “tournament” player is one who competes on tours outside of the high school program.
“The big thing was, even though we lost matches to those big schools, we'd still win points or games against them,” Conlon said. “The girls learned that, with work, they could compete.”
Knoch was 14-2, 8-0 last year with a freshman, Elle Santora, as its No. 1 singles player. Santora transferred to Shady Side Academy after the last school year.
Now the Knights have another freshman — Laura Greb — at No. 1 singles. Still another freshman, Brooke Bauer, plays at No. 2 singles.
Both are tournament players. Greb plays out of the Alpha club in Harmarville while Bauer plays for the Pa. Tennis Academy in Wexford. They have been playing tennis since age 5.
“My parents threw me into the game when I was little and I fell in love with it,” Greb said. “I play pretty much every day, all year.”
Greb has lost only one match this season. The Knights carried a 13-1 record into Monday night's WPIAL playoff match with Blackhawk. That lone loss is a 3-2 decision to rival Mars.
“I still want to play the bigger schools in non-section. The competition makes us better,” Conlon said.
Despite the loss of Santora, Greb isn't surprised her team has done so well.
“Yes and no, my feelings were mixed on how we'd do (with Santora gone),” Greb said. “But we've got a lot of good players here and others have picked it up.”
While Knoch High School only has three courts, the team has 18 to 24 players on its roster. Conlon formed a junior varsity team three years ago.
“We make it work,” said Bauer, whose father is a former Knoch tennis player. “Two of the courts are for varsity, one for JV. On one court, we do drilling, where you can practice certain shots. On the other, we play actual matches.
“When you're not on the court, you're jogging the track or doing some other sort of conditioning.”
Bauer was a point guard on Knoch's junior high girls basketball team and plans to go out for basketball this year. She said she scales back her tennis to the weekends during basketball season.Greb and Bauer both want to play collegiate tennis down the road. While Greb is hopeful of joining a Division I program, Bauer said she will go “wherever my best educational opportunity takes me.”Emma West, a junior, is Knoch's No. 3 singles player. The doubles teams consist of sophomore Libby Conlon and senior Emily Ciganik, junior Alex Jaksec and senior Christine Ciganik.The Ciganik girls are twins. Neither had ever played organized tennis before joining the team as sophomores.“We have a few girls on the team like that,” Conlon said. “Destiny Gray and Allyson Porter are two other seniors who joined us as sophomores and they've come a long way.”Christine Ciganik said “I wasn't doing anything at all and just wanted to jump into something. I like tennis and thought it was something I could do.”Both got involved after attending a youth clinic Conlon puts on each spring.“It looked fun and we decided to try it,” Emily said of the sport. “As sophomores, there's no way we could have played varsity. Even last year, we played JV.“Now we're on varsity and we love it. I'll always play now ... intramurals in college, whatever. I'll never walk away from the game.”Conlon estimates she's gotten five or six girls into the game through her annual clinic, which she's been running for four years.Even with this year's success, the Ciganik twins are the only starters Knoch will lose to graduation.“I'm always thinking about the future,” Conlon said. “Always looking ahead, always moving forward.“I'm excited about the steady growth of this program.”
