Strategy pays off for Hollidaysburg
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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
STATE COLLEGE -- Champions often balance a fine line between risk and reward.
The Hollidaysburg Area girls tennis team didn't just walk that line -- they aimed for it.
The Lady Golden Tigers swept the doubles matches in Wednesday's District 6 Class 3A championship match against State College, and Crosby Denis put the match away with a win at No. 1 singles as Hollidaysburg won its second straight title, 3-1.
The key to both doubles wins was Hollidaysburg's willingness to attack the lines to punish State College camping out in the middle of the court.
Sarah Urban and Katie Klingner made short work of their opponents at No. 2 doubles with a 6-2, 6-1 win in a match that finished long before the matches on the other courts.
"Our No. 2 doubles, the last three weeks, has been unbelievable," Hollidaysburg coach Brian Denis said. "Katie and Sarah have been our MVPs. They beat Altoona in about 30 minutes on Monday. All three times we played Altoona, they won. So all year, it's been -- let's win at No. 1 and No. 2 and No. 2 doubles is going to be pretty hard to beat."
Sarah Neatrour and Olivia Panaro followed with a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 1 doubles about a half hour later.
"State College is very aggressive in doubles," Denis said. "Part of being a good doubles team is being aggressive, and even at No. 1 doubles, the one girl would stand in the middle of the court. The line is open when you do that, but you have to have the nerve to do it. Girls are usually timid and don't want to make a mistake, but we have been coaching them the last couple weeks that if the line is there, they have good enough strokes to do it. Normally doing that a few times keeps girls from cheating to the middle, but State College kept cheating toward the middle, and we kept burning them down the line."
With the match score at 2-1 after State College's Emma Chen edged Hollidaysburg's Emma Moritz at No. 3 singles, focus shifted to Denis, who was starting to struggle after cruising to a 6-0 first set win.
Denis had dropped three straight games to fall behind State College's Joanna Lin, 4-3, in the second set. But with adversity building and everyone watching her match, Hollidaysburg's top player turned it on and came back to win 6-4 and clinch the match.
"I have to give Crosby credit," Brian Denis said. "I don't like to talk about her, because she's my daughter, but she's such a gamer. She showed that at district golf the other day when she was down. When the spotlight is on, and we need her to win, she does. Today we needed her, and she pulled it out. For myself and Amanda (Faris Denis) as coaches, it's ultra-special that she's playing tennis after Amanda's dad coaching and us coaching. When she's on the court, she's one of the best competitors I have ever coached, and I was happy she was able to pull it out."
For Crosby Denis, closing out the match was important after Hollidaysburg's win over State College last year ended with her match still in limbo.
"Last year, I was still playing when it ended," Crosby Denis said. "I never got to finish. This year, it felt so good to be the one to close it out. It feels so good that we were able to win again with a new lineup and some new girls. It's really great to win back-to-back."
Hollidaysburg's Grace Muriceak led State College's Ava Bechtel, 6-2, 3-2, when Denis clinched the title, so that match was stopped.
"We had a chance to see (State College) at district singles and doubles," Brian Denis said. "Crosby played their No. 1 girl at district singles and won, and Grace played their No. 2 and won. That was indoors at the Summit (Tennis & Athletic Club), so it's a little different, but we thought we had an advantage there. They have been our rocks all year. In regular season matches, I think they are both undefeated. Unfairly, we have always thought, 'Crosby and Grace are going to win, so we only have to win one more along the line,' and those are our two highest returning players, so that should be expected."
State College ended the season 13-2. Hollidaysburg improved to 16-0.
"I thought it would be a close match, but I know how good Hollidaysburg is in a situation like this," State College coach Jane Borden said. "They are experienced and good players. They bring a lot of intensity. They played to win. We didn't have the strongest team going into the season. We had an injury to one of our top players who was lost for the season, so we had to make adjustments after about the third match. The girls all handled it well, stepped up, and we had a really excellent year."
Hollidaysburg will begin the state playoffs on Tuesday, Oct. 22 against the third-place finisher from the WPIAL.
"We knew we had Crosby and Grace coming back, but at the same time, we have Emma Moritz, who is playing No. 3 this year," Brian Denis said. "She was like No. 9 last year. Some of our doubles teams were players No. 10, 11 or 12. For those players to make that huge of a jump and still contribute all year, it's been a total team effort."
SINGLES: 1, Denis, H, def. Lin, 6-0, 6-4; 2, Muriceak, H, was leading Bechtel, 6-2, 3-2; 3, E. Chen, SC, def. Moritz, 6-1, 6-1.
DOUBLES: 1, Neatrour-Panaro, H, def. A. Chen-Dingwell, 6-3, 6-2; 2, Urban-Klingner, H, def. Brush-Narayanan, 6-2, 6-1.
Records: Hollidaysburg (16-0); State College (13-2).