A not-so-unusual thing happened at the PIAA Class AAA singles tennis tournament Saturday in Hershey, Pa. A player from the WPIAL won the title.
But at the same time, it was a first as Pine-Richland senior Marlys Bridgham came home from Hershey with the gold medal.
Bridgham is the first girl from Pine-Richland to win a PIAA title and she did it with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Mihalea Codreanu of Methacton at Hershey Racquet Club. It is the ninth time in 11 seasons that a WPIAL player won the AAA singles.
Bridgham was dominant, not losing a set in four matches of the two-day tournament. Bridgham was the runner-up in the WPIAL tournament a few weeks ago, losing to Mt. Lebanon's Callie Frey. But Codreanu beat Frey in the PIAA quarterfinals.
The other champion from the WPIAL was the Fox Chapel doubles team of sophomores Laurel Shymansky and Lacey Cohen, who won Class AAA with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (1) victory against North Allegheny's Maddy Adams and Tina Li.
First Published: November 3, 2013, 2:35 a.m.