ST. MARYS — On a chilly, blustery day that certainly had a fall feel to it, 14 girls from seven District 9 schools took to the courts at Benzinger Park in St. Marys vying for the D-9 Class 2A girls tennis singles championship.
By late afternoon, the field had been whittled down to just two competitors — Punxsy senior Addie London and St. Marys senior Pilar Pfoutz — who earned their spots in today’s singles championship match to be played at DuBois Area High School at 2 p.m.
London entered the tournament as one of the players who earned a bye through the first round, but in a balanced field with several competitors who had played each other close throughout the regular season, nothing was being taken for granted.
In her first match, London faced St. Marys senior Anna Porkolab, who outlasted Johnsonburg’s Chloe Baker in their first-round match for an 11-9 victory. London won the match between them, though, by a 10-2 margin to advance to the semis.
On the other half of their top portion of the bracket, Bradford’s Jackie Sipko worked her way through to be the other semifinalist. She bested Elk County Catholic’s Jolene Rippey 10-7, then Brockway senior Maria Buttery 10-4.
Buttery had earned her spot in the quarterfinals with a 10-3 first-round win over Cleafield’s Allison Fedder at the beginning of the day.
That set the stage for the top-half’s semifinal between London and Sipko, where the format changed to best of three sets.
The first one was back-and-forth, but London emerged with a 6-3 victory, then did it in one game less in the second set, 6-2, to become the first to clinch her spot in the final.
“Addie did what Addie does today,” Punxsy head coach Shawn London said. “I was really happy with the way she played, and I’m happy that she gets to play for the title, but we know she’s not there yet. (Pilar) is a very strong opponent, and we expect it to be a very good match.”
Pfoutz’s trek to the final didn’t begin with a bye, meaning she had to win three matches to secure her spot. In her opener, she picked up a 10-5 win over Bradford’s Karmyn Vossler, and in the second she bested Punxsy’s other competitor, Zoey Rushnok, 10-6.
Rushnok won her first-round match over Brockway’s Jorden Sanchez 10-3 to advance to the quarters.
“Zoey played well today,” Coach London said. “Her first match, she was in control, but she ran into a very tough player in Pilar and played very well against her.”
The other half of the bottom portion of the bracket had just one first-round match, where Ella Merrow of Clearfield blanked Johnsonburg’s Elizabeth Lowry 10-0 to earn a match with ECC’s Arianna Gurosik, who had secured the other bye.
Merrow rode the momentum from her first-round win into the quarters, though, and topped Gurosik 10-4 to earn her spot in the semis against Pfoutz.
Despite a number of good rallies and some solid tennis on both sides, Pfoutz was in control of both semifinal sets from the beginning, winning each 6-2 to advance to today’s final.
“Considering the wind was a factor in all of the matches today, the girls had to be exceptionally mentally tough just to want to play through those conditions, and I think I’ve got one of the toughest, mentally, with one of the toughest attitudes in Pilar,” St. Marys head coach Tim Henry said. “(Addie) from Punxsy certainly is very tough too. Pilar just refused to lose today, and maybe we can carry that into tomorrow, but we know that (Addie’s) a heck of a player, as well.”
Today’s championship match will actually be a precursor for another postseason showdown, as DuBois Area will host Taylor Allderdice for the Class 3A subregional match at 4 p.m.