Denis, Moritz make history with tennis championship
D4-6 girls tennis
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Hollidaysburg Area High School senior Crosby Denis has enjoyed an exemplary athletic career in two different sports.
Denis will be making a bid for her fourth District 4-6 girls golf championship today at the Windber Country Club.
And on Wednesday afternoon on the Herb Faris Tennis Courts at Mansion Park, Denis etched her name in the District 6 tennis record books by becoming the first four-time District 6 Class 3A girls doubles champ ever.
Olivia Ratchford, a 2021 Central Cambria graduate, was a part of four District 6 Class 2A girls doubles championship teams in the 2017 through 2020 tournaments.
Denis made history Wednesday and teamed with fellow Hollidaysburg senior Emma Moritz to bring Hollidaysburg the school's sixth straight District 6 Class 3A girls doubles championship.
The second-seeded squad of Denis and Moritz had a relatively easy time prevailing over the top-seeded team of State College senior Joanna Liu and Abigail Cao, as the Hollidaysburg duo captured district gold with a decisive 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Denis and Moritz will represent Hollidaysburg in the PIAA Class 3A state doubles tournament Nov. 6-7 at the Hershey Racquet Club. Another Hollidaysburg senior, Grace Muriceak -- who defeated Denis in last week's District 4-6 Class 3A singles championship match -- will move on to PIAA Class 3A state competition in singles competition.
Reaching last week's singles championship match but falling short there was a disappointment for the competitive Denis, who will continue playing golf on the college level at Duquesne University.
With the help of Moritz, Denis bounced back admirably Wednesday.
"If I was asked back when I was in ninth grade if this (four doubles titles) could happen, I would have had my doubts,'' Denis said. "It's incredible to have both the ability and the opportunity to do this.''
The State College team won the first game Wednesday, but Hollidaysburg dominated the rest of the way.
"We played consistently,'' Denis said of herself and Moritz. "When we got behind 1-0, we had to adapt, and we scored the next three points to go up 3-1. We've never played together as a doubles team in a varsity match, but we've been playing doubles together since we were very young.
"I like playing doubles more than I like playing singles,'' Denis said. "I like being at the net and playing the angles, and making the overhead shots.''
Denis won district doubles championships the past two years with Muriceak as her teammate. Three years ago as a freshman, she teamed with Megan Ferris to win a doubles title.
Moritz stepped up into the role as Denis's doubles teammate this year.
"I am grateful to be in this position,'' Moritz said. "I'm thankful to the coaches and parents. As players, we put a lot of time in, and we played a great match today. We definitely had to work together and communicate well in order to beat State College.''
Hollidaysburg coach Brian Denis has had a front-seat view of his daughter's tennis excellence over the years.
"Our school has now won six district doubles championships in a row,'' Brian Denis said. "As a program, we like to pride ourselves on doubles because we've had a lot of players on our roster every year. Crosby was super upset about not winning singles last week and she was even temporarily entertaining thoughts of not competing in doubles, but she said that it was important that she not let her team and school down, and she became the first girl in school history to be part of four District 6 doubles championship teams.
"And Emma stepped up big in this tournament to help our school get this doubles championship,'' Brian Denis said of Moritz.
First-year State College coach Ryan Kennedy gave credit to both teams.
"I thought that it was a good match,'' Kennedy said. "I thought that both teams played well. I'm proud of our team. (This tournament was) the first time that these two girls played doubles together for us. The Hollidaysburg team had its fundamentals down a bit better and they were able to pull away today.''
Liu was a member of a doubles team last season that lost the district title match to Denis and Muriceak.
"I thought that we played together really well today,'' Liu said of herself and Cao. "We held up as long as we could. I'm proud of the two of us.''
Cao noted Hollidaysburg's energy.
"We had great chemistry out there today,'' Cao said of herself and Liu. "I thought we played great. Hollidaysburg played with a lot of energy, and their game plan was very solid.''
Hollidaysburg won a doubles match in the girls state tournament last fall. Coach Denis thinks that this year's doubles team can go further.
"We've never had a girls doubles team make it to the second day of the tournament and the state semis,'' Coach Denis said. "That's our goal this year, and I think that we have a good chance.''
In the District 6 Class 2A doubles competition, Westmont Hilltop's team of Isabella Parrish and Lilly Evans won the title with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Central Mountain team of Lucy and Lane Weaver.