Returning champs retain District 10 girls singles tennis titles despite No. 2 seedings
Fairview's Trinity Fox and Cathedral Prep's Anna Poranski went into Monday's finals of District 10's girls singles tennis tournament as the mildest of underdogs.
They left Westwood Racquet Club as repeat champions.
Fox, who was seeded second in the Class 3A bracket, swept freshman teammate Vivian Liu 6-3, 6-2. The senior became the team's first three-time champion, according to coach Rick Sertz.
Poranski, who received her initial Class 2A gold medal as a member of Villa Maria's last girls tennis team, defended as part of the Ramblers' inaugural program. The junior swept Grove City star Macy Matson 6-4, 6-1 in a rematch of their 2021 district final.
Monday's winners advanced to the PIAA girls singles tournament, which runs Nov. 4-5 at Hershey Racquet Club. Fox will open against the 3A second seed from District 1 and Poranski's initial opponent will be District 12's 2A titlist.
3A finalists wore same school colors
Liu's status as the tournament's top seed was valid. She won the women's singles final at the City Rec Tournament just over a week before Fairview officially began practicing for its 2022 season.
It was during those sessions, followed by in-season workouts, that Liu defeated Fox over a series of challenge matches which Sertz arranged.
Those results left Liu as Fairview's regular starter for its No. 1 singles matches and Fox for No. 2.
That's why Monday's final churned a type of pressure within Fox which she hadn't experienced since she was a first-year Tiger.
“There was that feeling you almost have to prove yourself again to everybody,” she said. “(Starting behind Liu), OK that might have happened during the regular season. But I knew I could still come here (Monday), play good tennis and win another championship.
“It was good, though. It gave me the fire I hadn't had in awhile.”
Winners return: District 10 girls tennis defending champions find themselves seeded second in repeat bids
Liu played the entire tournament under the weather, according to Sertz. She didn't appear visibly ill during Saturday's early rounds, when she only lost three games over as many matches, but she had a notable raspy voice after her semifinal victory.
Monday, though, was worse. Liu coughed as the match progressed and she occasionally hunched over between points.
Sertz, though, didn't want that to take away from Fox's latest victory or what she's accomplished over her tennis career at Fairview.
Fox reached the district's 3A championship match in each of her four tournament appearances. She was a freshman when McDowell graduate Abby Murray beat her 6-1, 6-3 in their 2019 final.
“You cannot disrespect Trinity's amount of time, effort and strategy that she put in to (win) this match,” Sertz said. “She hadn't been able to beat (Liu) in the preseason and throughout the season. They didn't play (challenge matches) over the last two or three weeks, but at that point I don't think they wanted to play each other.
“If Trinity was going to beat her once, it was going to be (Monday).”
New team, same champ in 2A
Poranski's trail to her latest championship was nearly the same as the one Fox followed. The Prep junior was seeded second to Matson even though she beat the Eagles' standout 6-3, 6-0 in their 2021 final at Westwood.
The district's 2A coaches, based on 2022 regular-season results, still opted to bracket Matson as the tournament favorite last Saturday.
Monday's sets went about the way they did last fall in the opponents' original final. Poranski prevailed at the end of a competitive first set and then gained major momentum after she broke Matson's initial service game in the second.
“I'm super grateful I made it this far in the tournament,” Poranski said. “I just put my head down and got through those two sets. Macy's always been a consistent player. I thought I did a good job of matching her consistency.”
Although Poranski's two titles were for different schools, she's still the district's first back-to-back 2A titlist since 2017. Grove City great Emily Gordon completed a four-year tournament sweep that year.
Gordon was the PIAA's 2A girls singles champ in 2016. She was listed as a redshirt junior for Mercyhurst University's 2021-22 women's tennis team.
One retired boys coach discusses another
Absent at Westwood on Monday was Richard Beck. It was there during Saturday's early rounds he confirmed his resignation as coach of McDowell's boys tennis program after a 54-season tenure that's unlikely to be approached again, let alone matched or surpassed, in the history of Erie County high school athletics.
Beck, 76, said he plans to remain coach of the Trojans' girls tennis team for the near future. He's held that position since 1984.
Beck's announcement came six months after Sertz stepped down as coach of Fairview's boys tennis team, which he led for 24 seasons.
Sertz, like Beck, chose to retain his role as the Tigers' girls coach. Their current season is his 11th with them.
“When Rich heard I retired (as Fairview's boys tennis coach), he said, 'You know, I always thought you'd be the one who would break my record,'" Sertz said. "I said, 'Rich, I'm 62 right now. I'd have to coach into my 90s. I really don't see that happening.'"
Beck's first season as McDowell's boys tennis coach was 1969. That was the year after the start of open play, when professionals were finally permitted to compete in Grand Slam events, and a year before the 12-point tiebreaker was widely implemented throughout the sport.
'It's time': Coach Richard Beck ends 54-season run with McDowell boys tennis team
Doubles winners to be determined Thursday
While Fox and Poranski can't compete in Thursday's District 10 girls doubles tournament, per PIAA rules, Matson and Liu can.
Each should be paired with another teammate when the one-day competition back at Westwood starts at 11 a.m. Only the winners will advance to next month's state tournament at Hershey.
Prep's Anne Marie Prichard will have a new partner in her quest for a third consecutive title at the 2A level. McDowell's Nabiah Bhatti won last fall's 3A tournament with graduate Samantha Becker.
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNcopper.
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Championship results for District 10's girls singles tennis tournament at Westwood Racquet Club:
Class 3A
No. 2 Trinity Fox, Fairview def. No. 1 Vivian Liu, Fairview 6-3, 6-2
Class 2A
No. 2 Anna Poranski, Cathedral Prep def. No. 1 Macy Matson, Grove City 6-4, 6-1
More:Defending champs, bigger Class 3A field are storylines for D-10 girls tennis tournament
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Anna Poranski, Trinity Fox defend District 10 girls tennis titles
