Girls tennis: Main Line talent headed to Hershey for PIAA state doubles tournament

Prior to the start of the PIAA District One Class AA and Class AAA doubles tournament, the district had to go through some last minute venue and date shuffling before the action even started.

With the dates and venue finally set, the tournament began on October 16th at Legacy Youth Tennis and Education Center and finished on October 18th at the Healthplex in Springfield (Delco).

When the action finished up early Saturday evening it was especially sweet for the doubles teams from Villa Maria Academy and Conestoga High School, who clinched automatic berths in the upcoming PIAA Class AA and Class AAA state tournaments, respectively.

In Class AAA action, the Conestoga duo of senior Kaylee Yan and freshman Amy Zhang knew in order to clinch one of the four automatic berths in the state tournament they would have to take a difficult path that featured the possibility of facing the No. 3 seed of Rylee Power and Emma Clancy from Marple Newtown.

Entering the tournament as the No. 6 seed, Yan and Zhang won their first two matches dropping only three games in four sets. Power and Clancy also did their part winning their first two match-ups to set up the showdown on Saturday with the winner clinching a berth to Hershey.

What was expected to be a close match, things did not start out exactly like everyone may have expected. Power and Clancy opened the first set with a 6-2 win. After making a few adjustments, Yan and Zhang rebounded to win the second set 6-3 setting up a decisive third set.

As expected, the third set went back and fourth before eventually going into a tie-break after Clancy held serve with her and Power trailing 6-5. In the tie-break, Yan and Zhang took control jumping out to a 5-1 lead before posting a 7-2 win that punched their ticket to the state tournament.

“I am so thrilled for the two of them,’ said Conestoga coach Fran Tomaselli. “I am especially happy for Kaylee who is a senior. Her and Amy never gave up and it’s great to see them earn a trip to Hershey.’

Despite the loss, Power and Clancy will return to Legacy on October 22 to try and earn the alternate spot while Yan and Zhang will playoff for the 3rd and 4th spot following their loss to the Garnet Valley tandem of Emma Blake and Marina Zhang in the semi-finals.

In other Class AAA action, Harriton High School’s Gav Rubenstein and Becca Shapiro won their first match upsetting the 12th seeded duo of Chloe Rigogne and Joanna Kwon from Council Rock North before falling to the West Chester Henderson duo of Monica Clark and Harshitha Palegar, the 5th seed.

Lower Merion High School’s Simone Burde and Neve Brennan also won their opening match before falling in the second round to Blake and Zhang.