Last year, for the first time in history, WPIAL Class 2A girls tennis ran through Knoch High School.
Not only did the Knights have the WPIAL’s first four-time girls singles champion in any classification in Laura Greb, they boasted a sister act of Brooke and Ally Bauer who captured the doubles title and finished second in the state while the team defeated Sewickley Academy, 3-2, for the school’s first WPIAL championship and parlayed that into the PIAA Class 2A crown.
And even though Greb and Brooke Bauer are gone, Knoch will still be a formidable team as it looks to join Sewickley Academy (2018-19) as the only WPIAL schools to repeat as Class 2A champions.
“We had a large freshman group and half of them participated in a state final, so I’ve got state champions coming in as sophomores,” Knoch coach Nance Conlin said. “I think their confidence is pretty high and I think they’re excited to see how far they can take it.”
Knoch was able to play in consecutive state championships and win last year thanks to Greb and Bauer, who were a formidable pair at the top of the lineup. The two played each other in the 2019 WPIAL singles final and, last year, Bauer opted to play doubles as the COVID-19 restrictions limited state finals to only district champions.
Knoch was the first team since 2011 to win the Class 2A triple crown of singles, doubles and team titlists.
“We’re pretty set. It’s hard to fill the two shoes of Brooke and Laura because they were the whole backbone of the team those four years,” Conlin said. “And I don’t just say that because of their records — I say that because of the kind of athletes, students and people they were. They really raised the bar for this whole team.”
If Knoch is to repeat, it will do so with some familiar names.
Ally Bauer will be back for her junior year and will battle with twin sisters, sophomores Lindsey and Emily Greb — the latter of whom lost to older sister Laura in the WPIAL semifinals — for the three singles spots. All three played key roles in the state championship run a year ago.
Knoch, though, will have its share of roadblocks to repeating its 2020 sweep.
South Park will have a shot at the singles title as the team features Nicole Kempton, the No. 10-ranked junior in the state at the top spot. She is the top returning finisher from last year’s tournament after losing, 6-1, 6-3, to Laura Greb in the finals.
Class 3A
Though 2020 was a tumultuous year because of all the coronavirus mandates, Class 3A tennis was largely unaffected as things went pretty much as expected.
Bethel Park’s Mia Gorman won the WPIAL singles title and Peters Township’s Kat Wang and Marra Bruce took the WPIAL and PIAA doubles titles for the second time.
That’s where the almost comes in.
Latrobe, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, rolled over No. 5 Shady Side Academy, top-seeded Peters Township and No. 2 Upper St. Clair by identical 4-1 scores to win the school’s first WPIAL team title since 2005. The Wildcats then rolled into the state finals before losing a 3-2 heartbreaker to Spring Ford.
Last month, though, the team suffered an unexpected loss as well as head coach Chad Kissell, a Wildcats alumnus and former WPIAL and state champion, stepped down. Despite that, Latrobe is looking forward to a chance at repeating.
“We’re really focusing on just having a good run in the section as a team and we’re going to try to have enough momentum to go into the WPIAL teams,” senior No. 1 singles player Jenna Bell said. “Obviously there’s a lot of other good teams out there like Peters Township and Shady Side. There’s no guarantees on how we’re going to do.”
Though it has not yet been made official, Latrobe is likely once again reaching into its championship history for a head coach. This time, it appears the Wildcats will bring in 2000 WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A singles and 2002 WPIAL and PIAA doubles and WPIAL team champion Karissa Walker to take over the program.
It will be tough road to a repeat.
Both Wang, a senior, and Bruce, a junior, will be back for Peters Township this year giving the team a formidable 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup. The two also have the opportunity to potentially become the first doubles team in state history to win three consecutive titles.
That’s a big if.
Both are first and foremost singles players and Wang made it as far as the WPIAL semifinals last year before losing to Gorman. All four 2020 semifinalists — Gorman, Wang, Bell and Pine-Richland junior Elaine Qian — are expected to return this season.
First Published: August 12, 2021, 10:15 a.m.
