Knoch girls tennis player Alana Moroney started her varsity career on the same tennis courts her mom and aunt played on for the first Knights teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Submitted photo

Alana Moroney once played on the ground her mother and aunt built. Now she’s on her own court.

The junior captain of Knoch’s girls tennis team is part of a lineage of Knights dating back to their inauguration. Moroney’s mom, Erika, was part of the program’s first team in 1998. Her sister, Alana’s aunt, Tiffany, joined the team in 2002 and went on to win a WPIAL Class 2A Section 3 Doubles Tournament title in 2005.

The sisters played on Knoch’s original tennis courts that remained for more than 20 years; they’re where Alana later dashed back and forth across the baseline, until this summer, when the courts were torn down and replaced with a new ones, free of cracks and colonies of ground bees.

“I love knowing that I’m playing tennis for the same school that my mom and my aunt played (for),” said Alana, who one day wants to have a section banner hanging in Knoch High School right beside her aunt’s.

The courts have meant a lot to the Moroneys.

Erika, a softball player in the spring, convinced some of her teammates to join the tennis team when Knoch first held tryouts. She wanted a new challenge with a newly formed team. She shared clandestine glances with her then-boyfriend, now-husband, Shawn, when he and his football teammates would walk by the courts before practice.

The courts are where Erika and Tiffany’s parents and grandparents, especially Elmer “Pap” Wagner, gathered to cheer on the tennis newbies. And more than 20 years later, it’s where Erika and Shawn cheer on Alana and eventually her younger sister, Joyanna, 11, who also plays.

“One of the things I always really loved ... having my family there to support me, I guess it built a piece of my character,” said Erika, who remembers her parents and grandparents carrying fold-up chairs up a hill near the tennis courts to her matches. “Seeing not only the sacrifices they were making for me, but also the support (they had).”

Knoch tennis player Alana Moroney, right, smiles and points at a doodle head coach Lexi Chappel's arm. Submitted photo

Alana plays basketball for her church and competes on two different types of debate teams, but tennis is where the whole family has a bond.

Wagner, who died at 89 nearly two years ago and came to nearly every one of Erika and Tiffany’s matches, was around when the Knights won the WPIAL Class 2A Team Championship and advanced to the PIAA Tournament semifinals when his great-granddaughter, Alana, was a freshman.

“His want just to help facilitate the life success of his grandchildren and his granddaughters in particular, just sort of ran through all of us,” Erika said. “It was a really beautiful experience (that he saw Alana play).”

Alana, who is home-schooled, began playing tennis when she was about 12 years old. Her parents never pushed her or her sister into it, but were thrilled nonetheless when she started.

“I remember I texted my mom (and sister) during (Alana’s first lesson),” Erika said, “‘Tennis is gonna be her sport.’”

Known for long rallies but with a better “kill shot” than her mom, Erika said jokingly. She’s been known during the summer to take lessons in the morning, coach younger kids with Butler Junior Tennis Association, then practice more after that.

“She’s an exceptional young lady, she shows great leadership,” said Knoch coach Lexi Chappell, who is friends with the Moroney family and coached Alana as part of BJTA before taking the head coaching gig at Knoch. “She’s very, very kind and very, very positive, and she really does a great job supporting everybody on the team … She’s a really great player with a lot of potential to move forward for a lot of growth.”

Moroney and Knoch visit North Catholic in its next match 3:30 p.m. Monday at Cranberry Township Park.

Jake Merda Adams is the sports editor at the Butler Eagle.