PIAA girls tennis season preview 2025: Meet Butler County’s Top 6 players to watch
No Butler County girls tennis team had a better 2024 season than North Catholic. Really, no school had a better tennis year than the county’s Catholic school, which saw both the boys and girls win WPIAL team titles.
The Trojanettes won their first WPIAL Class 2A Girls Tennis Team Championship in the fall and made their first appearance in the PIAA Class 2A semifinals. And they return a duo that was at the heart of that run.
Meanwhile, Class 3A tennis proved a challenge to local athletes last year, as no team or individual made it to the WPIAL championships. There’s reason to believe that may change this year, if a few returning players build off sectional appearances a year ago.
Here are the top six girls tennis players from Butler County in alphabetical order to watch on the court this season:
No Butler County athlete in Class 3A made it out of the WPIAL section tournament, but Kampian was one of the few to appear in both the singles and doubles sectional brackets. A freshman last year, she took over No. 1 Singles duties right away and nearly cracked a .500 record, according to head coach Mark Varlotta, who said Kampian “will be a more well-rounded player this season.”
In a banner year for the Trojanettes’ program, Kelley returns as arguably the headliner of a team hoping to repeat after winning its first WPIAL team title a year ago. NC also made its first PIAA semifinal a few weeks later. Kelley won silver in the WPIAL 2A doubles tournament to qualify for states with Katie Hardy, who has graduated. Kelley also made the WPIAL singles tournament, losing to eventual champ Gabriella Dusi (Bella Vernon) in the quarterfinals.
Brea’s younger sister, Delaney Kelley also returns after an impressive rookie season where she made the district singles championships, losing in the first round to Oakland Catholic’s Mollie Sclichter. The two sisters have this year and next together.
Markiewicz made the WPIAL section doubles tournament last year with another name to appear on this list. Hoping to play in college, according to head coach Lexi Chappell, she finished second recently at the Butler Junior Tennis Association In-house Doubles Tournament.
Moroney was the other half of Knoch’s doubles pairing to make sectionals a year ago. She also made the section singles tournament in 2024. Moroney has been playing U.S. Tennis Association tournaments this summer, and recently won the Butler Junior Tennis Association In-house Doubles Tournament and finished second in the singles tournament. She also the West Penn League doubles title recently, Chappell said.
Spohn returns for one more season hoping to build off appearances in the WPIAL 3A section singles and doubles tournaments. She made the doubles bracket with Emily Hinch, who has since graduated, and advanced to the singles bracket quarterfinals.
