North Catholic sophomores Evelyn Marche and Macaria Stall will enter the PIAA Class 2A girls tennis doubles tournament later this month as WPIAL runner-up after falling to Winchester Thurston’s Veronica Zinski and Marann Buckanovich in Thursday’s championship match at North Allegheny High School.

North fell by set scores of 6-0, 5-7 and 1-6.

Zinski and Buckanovich, the top-seeded duo in the tournament, had defeated another North Catholic tandem, Anna Ravotti and Ava Conley, in Wednesday’s quarterfinal.

“We noticed some of their habits, that they both like to play back and we tried to adjust today,” North coach Dorothy Dohanics said. “We hit a lot of balls short and were on fire in that first set.”

In fact, Marche and Stall were up 5-4 in the second set, just one game away from victory. But Winchester Thurston won three straight games to force a third set.

“I think their team took a lot of confidence from winning that second set,” Dohanics said.

This is the second straight year that a North duo finished runner-up. Brea Kelley and Katie Hardy placed second in 2024.

The state tourney begins Oct. 21. Marche and Stall will face the champion from either District 5 or 8.

“Evie and Macaria both played singles during the season and haven’t gotten much work in with doubles,” Dohanics said. “A lot of it is anticipating what your partner is going to do, what she is good at. Now we have a couple of weeks to get more practice in and get ready for states.”

In a match against its backyard rival, Slippery Rock topped Grove City 3-1.

Leading the way for the Rockets (11-2) was Adi Novad with 15 kills. Lexi Caldwell added 23 assists and Lyla Runtas 17 digs.

Slippery Rock won by scores of 25-16, 25-27, 26-24 and 25-12.

Hampton 3, Mars 2 — The Planets rebounded after dropping the first two sets, only to lose the fifth against the Talbots.

Cecilia Christy had 22 kills and five blocks in the loss. Rylee Wooldridge contributed 20 kills and 14 digs and Gabi Weidemann 58 assists and 17 digs.

Mars dropped the match by set scores of 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 26-24 and 13-15.

Christy and Weidemann are now Mars’ career leaders in kills and assists, respectively.

Seneca Valley 3, Butler 0 — The Raiders beat the Golden Tornado by scores of 25-19, 25-18 and 26-24 in this WPIAL Section 2-4A matchup.

Brynn Cornibe had 10 kills and two blocks for Butler (8-6, 1-5), which plays North Hills on Monday. Raina Lewandowski had 11 kills and 12 digs.

Stats for Seneca Valley were not available.

Clarion-Limestone 3, A-C Valley 0 — The Falcons received five kills and 12 digs apiece from Malia Page and Gianna Louise.

C-L won by scores of 28-26, 25-20 and 25-15.

Keystone 3, Moniteau 0 — The Warriors were swept by scores of 26-24, 25-9 and 25-18.

Lily Staab had seven kills and Emily Matz five blocks in defeat.

Hanna Dailey, Bree O'Donnell and Phoebe Brandon all scored two goals as Karns City crushed Redbank Valley 7-0.

Sophia Bonetto also scored for the Gremlins. Giada Bonetto earned the shutout in net.

Spencer Valasek scored three times and Ryan Sutara twice to power Freeport to an 8-0 shutout of Valley.

Also scoring for the Yellowjackets (9-5-1, 5-5-1) were Xavier Dewitt, Eli Hassler and Dante Treglia.

Slippery Rock 5, Grove City 1 — Four goals in the first half set the Rockets on their way to this blowout win.

Wade Freehling scored twice; Ryan Strother, Logan Berry and Sam Caton once each.

Redbank Valley 2, Karns City 1 — Camden Slater scored for the Gremlins off an assist from Josh Peters.

Brock Dittman made 11 saves in the loss.