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Fox Chapel's Charlotte James hits the ball during the WPIAL Class AAA singles championship on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, at Shady Side Academy in Fox Chapel.
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Fox Chapel's Charlotte James wins WPIAL Class 3A singles finals

Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette

Fox Chapel's Charlotte James wins WPIAL Class 3A singles finals

Fox Chapel senior Charlotte James and Baldwin’s Bethany Yauch got a pretty good scouting report on each other in advance of their match Thursday in the WPIAL Class 3A singles finals at Shady Side Academy.

James and Yauch were front and center in the No. 1 singles spots when the Foxes and Highlanders played in a team match Monday. With the overall outcome decided, James won that round in a tiebreaker after they split the first two sets.

“I definitely had some confidence going into it,” James said. “I knew that she always puts up a good fight and is really tough out there, so I knew I could do it the whole time and I just had to hang in there and play my tennis.”

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That boost might have been all she needed as James pulled out a 6-4, 6-4 victory against the top-seeded Yauch to become the first Fox Chapel singles player to win a WPIAL Class 3A title. James previously won WPIAL and PIAA doubles titles in 2016 and 2017.

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“Honestly, I did not know that,” James, who was seeded third heading into the tournament, said. “That’s really exciting, and I’m really happy to bring that title home to my school and it feels really good.”

As much as playing Yauch earlier this week might have helped, James did herself a bigger favor last year when she opted to play outside tournaments in an effort improve her game as well as her standing with college recruiters. She has received several offers and remains uncommitted. The impact of playing high-level competition for a lengthy period of time, however, benefited her in the finals.

“I think, honestly, not playing last year helped me get to the point where I am today,” James said. “I think it was what I needed to do for my overall tennis.”

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For Yauch, it was a second consecutive year of finals disappointment. Last year, the Cleveland State recruit dropped a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 decision to the then-reigning state champion, North Allegheny’s Ashley Huang.

“It was obviously a hard loss, but Charlotte deserved it and she played really well,” Yauch said. “I gave everything I possibly could and put all my blood, sweat and tears on that court and, honestly ... I still have four more years to look forward to and I’m going to accomplish great things in college and I still have states to look forward to.”

Class 2A

Knoch coach Nance Conlon knew one thing for sure when she headed to the WPIAL Class 2A singles finals — she was coming back with both a gold and a silver medalist.

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What order her two players would finish was the only mystery.

As it turned out, the seedings held as the No. 1 seed, junior Laura Greb, beat teammate Brooke Bauer, 6-1, 6-2, in the finals.

“It was very nerve-wracking because I played her in the section final last week, and I was just as nervous last week as I was this week,” Greb said. “There was a lot of pressure to it.”

It’s not surprising she felt a little apprehensive. She was trying to become only the second Class 2A player to win three singles titles in a row, joining Cate Stewart of Quaker Valley, who won hers from 2005-07.

“It feels amazing because I’ve worked all season to get to this point,” Greb said. “My goal was to win it again, and it feels really good to do that.”

First Published: September 20, 2019, 12:08 a.m.

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Fox Chapel's Charlotte James hits the ball during the WPIAL Class AAA singles championship on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, at Shady Side Academy in Fox Chapel.  (Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette)
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