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York Dispatch Staff Report

York Catholic and Susquehannock each saw their girls’ tennis team seasons come to an close on Tuesday with first-round state losses.

The Lady Irish fell to District 11 champion Moravian Academy, 3-2, in a PIAA Class AA match at West End Racquet Club in Allentown.

The Warriors, meanwhile, dropped a Class AAA battle to District 1 champion Wissahickon, 5-0, at the Legacy YTE Complex in Philadelphia.

At Allentown, the Irish received a singles victory from Anna Spoden and a doubles victory from Emily Javitt and Maggie Javitt. York Catholic, the York-Adams Division II champion, entered the state field as the District 3-AA runner-up.

At Philadelphia, the Warriors were unable to take a set in the five matches vs. the suburban Philadelphia power. The Warriors, the champions of York-Adams Division I, were the third-place team from District 3.

By JOHN WALK 505-5406 / @yorksportsguy

HERSHEY — Gathered in a hallway at the Hershey Racquet Club on Wednesday afternoon, the York Catholic girls’ tennis players had mixed emotions.

Silver medals hung around their necks, given to them just moments before after the Irish fell to Wyomissing, 3-0, in the District 3-AA team championship match.

Some players smiled about the accomplishment. Others stared with blank faces as their coach, Paige Mundy, shared her thoughts.

“I told them they represented their school,” Mundy said. “To be one of three teams with medals around your neck today is a tremendous achievement. At the same time it can’t be satisfactory. You have to quest for more.”

The Irish accomplished their goal of qualifying for the PIAA state tournament. But they also fell just short in the district championship for the third time in five years. Wyomissing has now won two consecutive district titles.

“They’re the defending district champs,” Mundy said. “We knew it would be a difficult match-up for us today. Our intention was to go out and compete on every court.”

Audrey Ann Blakely, the District 3-AA singles champion and the likely favorite for the state singles title, defeated York Catholic’s Anna Spoden, 6-1, 6-0, in the No. 1 singles match.

“I’ve known Audrey Ann for awhile and she’s always extremely tough,” said Spoden, who was a three-time York-Adams Class AA singles champion. “She’s the best girl in the district right now. I knew coming in it was going to be tough going. She’s very aggressive. She’s very powerful.”

York Catholic’s Sarah Koury fell to Caroline Patillo, 6-1, 6-0, in the No. 3 singles match while the team of Kathryn Thomas and Katarina DeFelice lost, 6-0, 6-2, in the top doubles match. The No. 2 singles match and No. 2 doubles match were not completed once the team outcome was determined.

The season is far from over for York Catholic, however. The Irish will regroup for the opening round of the team state tournament, which begins Tuesday. The Irish will face the District 11 champion.

York Catholic is still searching for its first state tournament win in program history.

Spoden, one of three York Catholic seniors, will look to add to her state medal count. During her freshman and sophomore seasons, she and her sister, Ava, were runners-up in doubles in the state tournament. This year, Spoden will compete in the state singles tournament after finishing third in District 3-AA.

“We just have to focus on our game right now,” Spoden said. “At this level everyone is really good. Only 16 teams in the whole state make it to this level. So you know each match is going to be really tough.”

Susquehannock: The Susquehannock girls’ tennis team, meanwhile, won the third-place District 3-AAA match-up over Cedar Crest, 3-2, on Wednesday at Hershey to qualify for the PIAA tournament.

The Warriors lost both doubles matches but won each singles match.

The Susquehannock winners were: Katie Wagner, who defeated Catherine Bond (6-1, 6-1); Adriana Bullaj, who beat Madeleine Overholt (6-3, 6-1); and Usha Baublitz, who downed Madison Fortna (6-3, 6-2).

Susquehannock will now take on the District 1 champion next Tuesday in a first-round state match.

– Reach John Walk at jwalk@yorkdispatch.com.

York Dispatch Staff Report

York Catholic will play for its first-ever District 3 team tennis championship on Wednesday afternoon.

The No. 2 seed Lady Irish beat No. 3 seed Lancaster Catholic on Tuesday at the Hershey Racquet Club, 3-1, in a District 3-AA semifinal contest.

That earned the Irish a return trip to HRC for the title match against defending champion Wyomissing, which beat Berks Catholic in Tuesday’s other AA semifinal at HRC, 3-2. The title match is set for 1:15 p.m. Wednesday. Wyomissing is seeded No. 1.

Maddie Kepner and Sarah Koury earned straight-set victories at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively, for York Catholic. The Irish got their other point with a straight-set win by the No. 2 doubles team of Emily Javitt and Maggie Javitt.

York Catholic’s Anna Spoden, the York-Adams League AA singles champion, did not complete her match at No. 1 singles after splitting the first two sets vs. Liz Veronis. The third set was not completed once the outcome of the team match became determined.

At No. 1 doubles, the York Catholic team of Kathryn Thomas and Katarina DeFelice fell in straight sets.

Wednesday, York Catholic will face a Wyomissing team led by District 3-AA champion Audrey Ann Blakely.

A year ago, York Catholic fell in the District 3 semifinals to Berks Catholic, which then lost to Wyomissing in the finals.

Susquehannock falls in AAA: In Class AAA, No. 5 seed Susquehannock dropped its district semifinal match to No. 1 seed Hershey, 3-2, on Tuesday at HRC.

Katie Wagner, the York-Adams and District 3-AAA singles champion, won at No. 1 singles for the Warriors in straight sets.

Susquehannock’s other point came from Adriana Bullaj at No. 2 singles, also in straight sets.

The Warriors, however, fell in straight sets at No. 3 singles, No. 1 doubles and No. 2 doubles.

Susquehannock can still earn a state berth, however, if it can beat No. 6 seed Cedar Crest in Wednesday’s third-place match at 2:30 p.m. at HRC.

Cedar Crest lost to No. 2 seed Manheim Township in Tuesday’s other AAA semifinal, 3-0.

Manheim Twp. and Hershey will meet for the AAA crown at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday at HRC.

TENNIS NOTE

DALLASTOWN TEAM SEEDED NO. 2 IN DOU BLES: The Dallastown duo of Emily Westenberger and Danielle Lucabaugh has been seeded No. 2 in the upcoming District 3-AAA Girls’ Tennis Doubles Tournament.

Westenberger and Lucabaugh won the York-Adams League AAA doubles title last week.

The Manheim Twp. combination of Emily Mann and Meredith Meyer is seeded No. 1.

The other York-Adams teams in the AAA field are Mackenzie Bortner and Madison Bortner of South Western, Emily Kuhn and Taylor Strausbaugh of Central York and Adriana Bullaj and Usha Baublitz of Susquehannock.

Biglerville’s Carlee Brumgard and Jenna Glass took the No. 4 seed in the AA field. The Berks Catholic duo of Mariah Wardius and Lin Robertson is seeded No. 1.

The other York-Adams teams in the AA field are Maddie Kepner and Sarah Koury of York Catholic and Bryn Yurick and Morgan Anthony of Bermudian Springs.

The first two rounds of doubles action are set to start at noon Friday at Hershey Racquet Club. The semifinals and finals will also be held at HRC starting at 1 p.m. Saturday.

COLUMN By DICK VANOLINDA 505-5407 / @ydsports

HERSHEY — Nothing was going to stop Susquehannock’s Katie Wagner in her quest for the District 3 Class AAA singles girls’ tennis championship on Monday.

Not having to play two tiebreaker sets in the semifinals. Not a broken racket string. Not losing a game that she led 40-love in the title match.

Wagner overcame the obstacles and made history at the Hershey Racquet Club, becoming the school’s first District 3 tennis singles gold medalist.

“It feels amazing,” Wagner said. “Last year, I got beat by Emily Kuhn (of Central York) in the (district) third-place match. I just wanted to make it to states in singles. Last year, I got to go in doubles (but not singles).”

The Susquehannock standout wasn’t the only York-Adams player who qualified for state singles, which will also take place at the Hershey Racquet Club. Anna Spoden of York Catholic earned a spot in Class AA by winning the District 3 third-place match on Monday, 6-2, 6-1, over Lil Veronis of Lancaster Catholic.

Wagner, after outlasting Nicole Coons of Mechanicsburg, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) in the semifinals, defeated Sruthi Kamprath of Wilson, 6-0, 7-5, in the final.

The Warriors’ junior missed very little in the first set of the title match, hitting winners off her forehand and backhand sides. She closed the set with an ace, when the ball caught the corner of the service box and skipped past the baseline before Kamprath could get a racket on it.

“I started out strong,” Wagner said. “I knew I needed to get ahead. I played well in the first set, not so well in the second set. But she (Kamprath) was definitely hitting her shots in the second set. In the first set, they were missing.”

Wagner mixed the pace on her serves in the championship match.

“If they (opponents) are expecting a short serve, I can use my hard serve,” she said. “My shoulder hurts at times, and I only use the hard serve when it’s needed.”

The two-time York-Adams Class AAA singles champion needed to switch rackets midway through the second set when a string popped in her original one.

“I don’t have the same type racket for my second one, and it took me a while to adjust. I finally did it,” she said.

Wagner was serving to go up, 5-3, in the second set when Kamprath rallied from a love-40 deficit to win the game and even the set at 4-4.

“It bothered me (losing the game),” Wagner said. “But I knew if I stayed mad, it would only affect me even more and I would end up going to a third set. I decided I needed to come back and win.”

Kamprath applied the pressure by holding serve for a 5-4 edge, but Wagner won the next three games and the match. She crushed a forehand winner on game point in the 11th game.

Susquehannock coach Marianne Michels pointed to Wagner’s athletic ability (she went to states in track and also plays on the basketball team) and ability to handle adversity as keys to her success.

“She’s a phenomenal athlete, and nothing gets to her,” Michels said. “When she lost that game after being up 40-love, she was like, ‘OK, I lost that game, now I have to work harder.’ I’m so excited for her. She’s worked so hard.”

Spoden made sure her hard work paid off with a trip to states, too.

The York Catholic senior, shook off the disappointment of a 6-0, 6-2 loss to ELCO’s Madelyn Shaak in the district semifinals by putting together a strong showing in the third-place match.

“That was my goal, getting to states,” Spoden said. “I’m happy I played a lot better in the second match. I didn’t feel I played well in the first match, but Madelyn (Shaak) played an outstanding match.”

Spoden’s forehand shots that sailed over the baseline in the first match consistently landed inside the white stripe in the second match. The result was an opportunity to continue her stellar singles career, during which she captured three York-Adams AA titles in four years.

Dick VanOlinda covers high school sports for The York Dispatch. He can be reached at dvanolin da@yorkdispatch.com or 505-5407.

York Dispatch Staff Report

The York Catholic girls’ tennis team had little trouble advancing on Thursday afternoon during the quarterfinals of the District 3-AA Team Tournament at Hershey Racquet Club.

The No. 2 seed Lady Irish downed No. 7 seed Brandywine Heights, 3-0.

York-Adams League Class AA singles champion Anna Spoden picked up a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles, while Maddie Kepner cruised at No. 2 singles, 6-1, 6-0. Spoden and Kepner had also teamed to win the York-Adams Class AA doubles crown.

York Catholic’s No. 2 doubles team of Emily Javitt and Maggie Javitt also triumphed, 6-2, 6-0.

Two other matches were started but not completed because the team outcome was already determined. At No. 3 singles, York Catholic’s Sara Koury was leading, 6-3, 2-1, while the No. 1 doubles team for the Irish, Kathryn Thomas and Katarina DeFelice, was trailing, 6-3, 3-1.

York Catholic now advances to Tuesday’s semifinals at the Hershey Racquet Club against No. 3 seed Lancaster Catholic. The Crusaders downed No. 6 seed Camp Hill on Thursday, 3-0. The Irish-Crusaders match is set for 3:45 p.m.

If York Catholic wins Tuesday, it will advance to Wednesday’s 1:15 p.m. title match, again at the Hershey Racquet Club.

York Dispatch Staff Report

York Dispatch Staff Report

It’s been 14 years since a player from the York-Adams League won a District 3 girls’ singles tennis championship.

Patty Devlin of York Suburban captured the Class AA crown in 1998. The former Trojans’ star finished second at states the following year.

Since Devlin’s triumph, there have been five doubles champions from the York-Adams League, but no singles champion.

That may change this year.

Katie Wagner of Susquehannock is the No. 1 seed, and Emily Kuhn of Central York is the No. 2 seed in Class AAA for this year’s District 3 championships. In addition, Anna Spoden is the No. 2 seed, behind Wyomissing’s Audrey Blakely, in Class AA.

Play in both classes begins Saturday at Hershey Racquet Club.

Wagner, who recently won her second straight York-Adams AAA singles title, takes on Sarah Sambrick of Lampeter-Strasburg in the opening round. Kuhn, the 2010 York-Adams champion and the runner-up the past two years, faces Ruth Anne Millen of Lancaster McCaskey in the first round.

Spoden, who earned her third York-Adams AA singles crown in four years, plays Cara Sandri of Trinity in the first round.

By RYAN VANDERSLOOT 854-1575 x455 / @YAIAAscores

HANOVER — In defeat, the Dallastown girls’ tennis doubles team of Emily Westenberger and Danielle Lucabaugh found a glimmer of hope.

When Westenberger and Lucabaugh met Susquehannock’s Katie Wagner and Adrianna Bullaj in the regular season, the Wildcats were soundly beaten in the first set. But Westenberger and Lucabaugh put up a strong fight in the second set against the Warrior standouts. While they ended up dropping that set as well in a 6-2, 7-6 (9) loss, the Wildcats left that match believing there wasn’t much separating the two teams.

Nearly a month later, Westenberger and Lucabaugh proved they could make up that difference. Dallastown’s No. 1 team, which entered the York-Adams League Doubles Tournament as the No. 2 seed, rallied from an ominous deficit in the third set to claim a 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (5) victory over the top-seeded Warriors in the Class AAA championship match at South Western High School on Wednesday.

There was little drama in the Class AA finals. The York Catholic pair of Anna Spoden and Maddie Kepner routed Biglerville’s Carlee Brumgard and Jenna Glass, 6-3, 6-1. The triumph marked the fourth year in a row that Spoden was a part of the winning doubles pairing in AA.

“We lost the first set pretty good,” Lucabaugh said of their doubles loss back on Sept. 12. “The second set was back-and-forth, just like the last one (Wednesday).”

Despite the earlier loss, the Wildcats believed they weren’t far away from achieving a goal they set at the beginning of the season.

“I think we knew that we had a chance,” Westenberger said. “We didn’t count ourselves out.”

The Wildcats dominated from the outset and surprised even themselves by taking the first set in lopsided fashion. But with the league’s two-time Class AAA singles champion, Wagner, on the opposite side of the net, the Dallastown team knew it was far from over. That became evident when the Warrior pair returned the favor in the second set.

“I think their coach gave them some tips,” Lucabaugh said. “They just played better. They were making a lot of mistakes in the first set.”

In the third set, the Wildcats found themselves staring at a 5-4 deficit but didn’t blink. Bullaj and Wagner made some hitting errors that helped the Dallastown team even things up. From that point on, it became a battle of wills.

“We wanted it so badly,” Lucabaugh said.

“I think our hearts were in it,” Westenberger said.

Westenberger and Lucabaugh probably won’t have time to bask in the glory of their victory at Thursday’s practice in preparation for Friday’s District 3 Class AAA first-round team tournament contest. To get ready for Hershey, their first-round opponent, the Wildcats will scrimmage, ironically, the Warriors.

“It might be a little awkward,” Lucabaugh said, while Westenberger shot down the call for them to wear their gold medals during the practice.

Spoden and Kepner, on the other hand, won’t have the luxury of an extra day of preparation. The Irish begin their quest for a Class AA team title Thursday against Brandywine Heights at 3:45 p.m. at the Hershey Racquet Club.

No matter what happens Thursday, it has already been another banner week for Spoden. She wraps up her illustrious high school career with three league singles titles and four league crowns in doubles, all in Class AA.

“They’re both fun,” Spoden said. “But I like doubles, because you get to share it with someone. You’re less lonely out on the court. Sometimes it can be a lot more fun to play doubles.”

It marked the third different partner that Spoden teamed up with to win those four titles. She paired with her sister, Ava, during her freshman and sophomore years. She then played with Lainey Elliott en route to last year’s title.

Playing with Kepner, however, wasn’t very difficult for the left-handed Spoden.

“We are friends both off and on the court,” she said. “We got to know each other really well and that chemistry really translates on the court.”

Kepner agreed. “It’s great playing with Anna, especially because she knows that when you miss, and we all miss, that you just move on from it.”

Consolations: Central York’s Emily Kuhn was denied in her attempt to win a third-straight AAA doubles crown with a different partner.

She won in 2010 with Julia Learmonth and in 2011 with Tori Gray, but had to settle for third place this year. Kuhn and Taylor Strausbaugh lost by a 6-3, 7-5 clip to Wagner and Bullaj in the semifinals, but rebounded to defeat Mackenzie and Madison Bortner of South Western (6-1, 6-1) in the consolation match.

In the program’s first year in the league, the Bermudian Springs duo of Bryn Yurick and Morgan Anthony outlasted York Catholic’s No. 2 pair of Sarah Koury and Emily Javitt (6-3, 3-6, 6-2) in the third-place AA match. Yurick and Anthony fell to Spoden and Kepner by a 6-2, 6-0 clip in the semifinals while Koury and Javitt were downed by Brumgard and Glass, 6-1, 6-2.

– Reach Ryan Vandersloot at sports@yorkdispatch.com.

COLUMN By DICK VANOLINDA 505-5407 / @ydsports

York Dispatch Staff Report

The defending champions are back to bid for another title in the York-Adams Girls’ Tennis Singles Tournament.

Katie Wagner of Susquehannock, the 2011 Class AAA champion, and Anna Spoden of York Catholic, the 2011 AA champion, are the No. 1 seeds, in their respective classes, for the tournament, which begins on Friday at Dallastown (Class AAA) and South Western (Class AA).

Spoden, a senior, will try for her third singles championship. She won the crown as a freshman, finished second to her sister, Ava, as a sophomore and came out on top last year.

Wagner bested 2010 champion, Emily Kuhn of Central York, in last year’s final. Kuhn is seeded second in this year’s event.

Two rounds of singles will be played on Friday. The quarterfinals and semifinals are set for Saturday at South Western, with the finals scheduled for Monday, also at South Western. The starting times are 1:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Monday.

The doubles tournament will begin on Tuesday at Dallastown (Class AAA) and South Western (Class AA). The semifinals, finals and consolations will be held at South Western on Wednesday. The starting times are 2:30 p.m. on both days.

GIRLS’ TENNIS MATCH

WEST YORK 6, DELONE CATHOLIC 1: At West York, the Bulldogs captured the York-Adams Division II victory by receiving straight-set singles wins from Olivia Purtell, Gabby Amspacher, Shayla Lutzinger, Emily Wood and Charisma Johnson. In doubles, Darien Ramirez combined with Allison Morningstar to win the No. 2 match.

York Dispatch Staff Report