North Catholic grabs WPIAL girls tennis team title in win over defending champion Quaker Valley
Dorothy Dohanics believed there was a strong chance the WPIAL Class 2A Girls Tennis Team Championship would come down to Quaker Valley and North Catholic for the third straight season.
The Quakers had defeated North 3-2 for last year’s title.
“We spent much of the season preparing our doubles teams for this match,” Dohanics, the Trojanettes coach, said Wednesday on the phone. “Quaker Valley’s doubles teams like to charge the net, so we talked to our girls about how to combat that. We worked a lot on lobs and passing shots.”
Being proactive paid off handsomely for second-seeded North, which won both doubles matches in a 3-2 defeat of the top-ranked Quakers for the district crown Wednesday at Washington & Jefferson College’s Janet L. Swanson Tennis Center.
It is North’s second title in three years.
With the score tied at two matches apiece, the match came down to No. 1 doubles, and North’s Kaitlyn Abel and Leah Kernan earned a 7-5, 6-3 victory, moving the Trojanettes’ record to a perfect 15-0 this season.
Also winning their match against the Quakers were Anna Ravotti (6-0, 6-0) at No. 3 singles and the duo of Claire Elliott and Gabby Kress (6-4, 6-1) in the other doubles match.
“The girls had a feeling of being the underdog (Wednesday), but we learned a lot of lessons from last year,” Dohanics said. “We played with so much heart, and I think that is what put us over the edge.
“The girls have put in the hard work, and they’re playing with a lot of confidence.”
The Trojanettes will open the state playoffs Tuesday against either the District 5 or District 8 champion.
