What’s all the racquet about?: Hollidaysburg girls tennis returns entire starting lineup from historic season
H.S. girls tennis preview
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Hollidaysburg will attempt to better the best season in its school history when it returns its entire starting lineup from last year's District 6 Class 3A championship and PIAA quarterfinalist team.
Crosby Denis, who will be attempting to become a four-time Altoona Mirror first-team girls tennis all-star, returns alongside fellow first-teamers Grace Muriceak and Emma Moritz.
Altoona welcomes back first-teamer Andie Adams and second-teamer Skylar Irwin to lead a team that finished 10-4 last season.
Central Cambria, the defending District 6 Class 2A team champion, returns Mirror second-teamer Taryn Ream but will be challenged by several teams including Central, which has been happy with the work its players have put in this offseason.
Tyrone, with new head coach Rachel Stricek, returns Mirror second-teamer Erzi Bumgarner from a team that finished .500 last season and is hoping to improve on that.
The following is a capsulized preview of each team in the Mirror's core coverage area.
Altoona
Coach: Jake Colledge, sixth year
Career record: 111-53
Last year's record: 10-4
Conference: Independent
Returning starters: Seniors -- Andie Adams, Skylar Irwin. Juniors -- Emma Hovan, Addison Mitchell, Natalie Baker, Adalia Lopez-Oakes, Ava Williams, Ryleigh Campbell, Claire Long
Other returning players: Seniors -- Mariah Harris, Emillee Vo. Junior -- Andrea Young. Sophomore -- Nadia Eilenberger
Newcomers: Juniors--Riley Winters, Abigail Grimminger. Freshmen--Erika Irwin, Sophia Park, Ava Cousey, Abrielle Wolfe, Taylor Burkett. Eighth grade -- Campbell Fleegle, Piper Rhoades, Paityn Glunt, Gracie Haggerty. Seventh grade -- Teryn Reichart, Aleiah Klotz, Whitney Irwin, Summer Weaver
Strengths: "We have our entire starting lineup back from last year led by seniors Andie Adams and Skylar Irwin. Ava Williams, Emma Hovan, Adalia Lopez-Oakes, Addison Mitchell, Ryleigh Campbell, Natalie Baker, Claire Long and newcomer Erika Irwin will bring athleticism and depth to the lineup. We are also excited about the number of newcomers to the program and their development."
Concerns: "A busy match schedule makes it difficult to find practice time to form doubles teams."
Overall outlook: "As always, we look to compete and vie for District 6 titles and advance to the state playoffs."
Assistant coaches: Miriam Colledge, Alyson Hollingsworth (volunteer), Leim King-Settles (volunteer), Brett Mitchell (volunteer)
Central
Coach: Shaun Coppersmith, fourth year
Career record: 26-20
Last year's record: 6-7
Conference: Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference
Returning starters: Seniors -- Breslyn Beech, Taryn Walters, Aubry Eckman, Gabby Decker
Other returning players: Juniors -- Kara Weidlich, Laura Longwell, Sofie Maldonado
Newcomer: Freshman -- Abbi Coppersmith
Strengths: "We have a few girls with lots of real match experience. Two players have played every match since they started playing in ninth grade."
Concerns: "We have a lot of girls that don't really have a lot of real match experience."
Overall outlook: "We are excited to see what we can accomplish as the season goes on. We felt we really had a strong team the past few seasons and if we played to our ability that we could win districts. We just really had trouble finishing the season strong. This year we pretty much have taken the underdog role and have no pressure on us. Every win will be big to us. Our No. 1 player had a really strong year last year and has been working really hard in the offseason and is really playing good right now. This team has a chance to surprise a lot of people this season."
Assistant coach: Paul Keller
Central Cambria
Coaches: Jim White, Jeff Livermore, second year
Career record: 15-5
Last year's record: 15-5
Conference: Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference
Returning starters: Seniors -- Taryn Ream, Madison Dietz. Juniors -- Kat Kubat, Chloe Sandoval, Daisy Smith. Sophomore -- Ireland Deballi
Other returning players: Seniors -- Madalyn Bobby, Nora Anderson. Sophomore -- Hannah Handlon
Newcomers: Junior -- Bailee Saylor. Sophomore -- Hailey Faight
Strengths: "We have a great group of seniors returning on our team this year, including Taryn Ream, Madison Dietz, Madalyn Bobby and Nora Anderson. We will be depending on their leadership and experience to help our team compete and improve throughout the upcoming year. We also have a great group of juniors and sophomores, both experienced and new players, on the roster this year that have worked hard over the summer to improve their tennis skills. We know we'll need contributions from our entire team to help us be successful in 2026."
Concerns: "None."
Overall outlook: "Last year during our first year coaching the team, we recognized there are many really good tennis programs and coaches in Central PA, both in our district and the Laurel Highlands conference. We are excited about the upcoming season, challenges ahead and hope to compete well as we improve throughout the year."
Assistant coaches: None
Hollidaysburg
Coach: Brian Denis, 26th year
Career record: 699-128
Last year's record: 21-1
Conference: Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference
Returning starters: Seniors -- Crosby Denis, Grace Muriceak, Emma Moritz, Olivia Panaro, Taylor Eardley. Juniors -- Brooklyn Klingner, Rina Stiffler
Other returning players: Senior -- Sandy Zheng. Juniors -- Jillian Buffone, Selina Dong, Lainey Williams, Adele Theys. Sophomores -- Katherine Wang, Crosby Beauchamp
Newcomers: Sophomores -- Andi Roland, Abba Onishi. Freshmen -- Avery Wagner, Emmy Horell, Nora Kranich, Ruby Biesinger, Nadia Wolf, Stuti Patel, Kaylee Varner, Hannah Bartley, Zoyla Avila, Harlow Rodriquez, Zofia Cotto, Yingxin Zheng, Hannah Beckel
Strengths: "We have our entire starting lineup back from last year's record-breaking season, including all-state performers Crosby Denis and Grace Muriceak. We have the most depth we have ever had. Very competitive attitudes during qualifying this week. The team seems eager to improve as the season progresses."
Concerns: "We have 29 varsity and 15 junior high players. While our program is thriving, most of the schools on our schedule have seven or eight kids. Finding a chance for all of our kids to play will be nearly impossible. We will have to be creative in trying to fit all these kids on five courts. Our practices will be some of our best competition, but with competing against each other so often, we will need to make sure it doesn't become too stagnant. Several of our courts are in bad shape and almost becoming unplayable."
Overall outlook: "There are extremely high expectations for this season with a senior-laden team coming off arguably the best season in school history. Making our first trip ever to the PIAA semifinals might be determined by how much time the team has put in the off-season. Hopefully we will be peaking at the right time when playoffs roll around and we will be playing our best tennis. There's a wonderful opportunity and challenge ahead of us that these girls could really leave their mark on the program."
Assistant coach: Amanda Denis
Junior high coaches: Brian Denis, Amanda Denis
Tyrone
Coach: Rachel Stricek, first year
Career record: 0-0
Last year's record: 8-8
Conference: Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference
Returning starters: Seniors -- Ezri Bumgarner, Jocelyn Diehl, Cassidy Fleck, Grace Zimmerman. Sophomores -- Cassie Behrer, Addison Davis, Sydney Beeman
Other returning players: Junior -- Genevieve Naylor. Sophomore -- Charlie Murphy
Strengths: "A lot of our players have strong fundamental skill that we are looking to strengthen during practice."
Concerns: None
Overall outlook: "We have a strong lineup and a great opportunity to win some matches this season. The girls are working hard and improving every practice."
Assistant coaches: None