The Abington Heights girls tennis team made it seven district titles in a row by taking down Wallenpaupack in the District 2 Class 3A championship on Oct. 8 at Kirby Park.
Kevin Carroll | Abington Journal
The Scranton Prep girls tennis team won their third straight District 2 Class 2A championship with a victory over Wyoming Seminary in the district finals on Oct. 8 at Kirby Park.
Kevin Carroll | Abington Journal
Abington Heights made a breakthrough on the state level and Scranton Prep came within one win of winning it all again.
The Comets reached the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 3A tournament quarterfinals in Hershey Oct. 25. Scranton Prep, the 2023 state champion, returned to the Class 2A state final before losing a rematch with Lower Moreland.
The Abington Heights win was the first in the team’s seven straight trips to the state tournament after winning district or subregional titles.
Scranton Prep won seven straight state matches over the last two seasons before it was defeated in the Oct. 26 final.
Abington Heights made it to Hershey along with the rest of the final eight by beating District 3 runner-up New Oxford 3-2 Oct. 22. The Comets lost to District 7 champion Mount Lebanon 5-0 in Hershey.
Scranton Prep defeated Allentown Central Catholic 5-0 in the doubleheader at Birchwood. At Hershey, the Classics topped Erie Cathedral Prep 3-2 and Quaker Valley 5-0 to reach the final.
Abington Heights swept doubles against New Oxford.
Elsie Phillips-Bernie Mullen recovered from dropping the first set at No. 2 doubles. Amishi Amit and Sammy Rosenstein-Mary Booth won in straight sets.
Alyssa Wigley and Hannah LaCoe-Nicole Krakovich won the points for Scranton Prep in the state final.
Wigley was 3-0 at No. 2 singles in the state tournament, twice rallying after losing the first set. Her semifinal match was not completed because the team outcome had already been determined.
District 2 Tournament
WILKES-BARRE — Abington Heights and Scranton Prep continued their District 2 girls tennis team dominance Oct. 8 at Kirby Park.
Abington Heights defeated Wallenpaupack for its seventh straight Class 3A title.
Scranton Prep held off top-seeded Wyoming Seminary to win the Class 2A district team championship for the third straight time since Wyoming Seminary won the state title in 2021.
Both finals were decided by 3-0 scores.
The Comets, seeded second in the Class 3A field, first defeated Delaware Valley 3—0 in the semifinals earlier in the day.
Susan Arp and Sona Hanumali got the ball rolling for Abington Heights with straight-set victories in the first two singles matches.
The clincher came from Booth and Rosenstein, the Comets’ No. 1 doubles team, who took Victoria Latek and Cadance Danelski 6-3, 6-3 to seal the deal.
“It’s really fun to see the girls playing well and working hard,” Abington Heights coach Kelly Arp said. “They love playing together, and these girls have grown together as players every year, little by little.”
The Classics improved to 3-1 in their four years of playing finals against Wyoming Seminary.
Wigley and Emma Cuck cruised to wins in No. 2 and No. 3 singles.
The championship-clinching point came with an unfortunate injury forcing the Wyoming Seminary doubles team of Jophie Li and Kimi Li to retire in the No. 2 doubles match, awarding the match to their opponents Hannah LaCoe and Nicole Krakovich and the championship to Scranton Prep.
Krakovich and LaCoe had captured the first set 6-2, and Prep’s other doubles duo of Ella Cohen and Grace Devine was up a set when play was halted, putting the Classics in the driver’s seat.
Scranton Prep made their way back to the finals with a 3-0 win over Wyoming Area in the semifinals, with three 6-0, 6-0 singles victories.
“I think our girls rose to the occasion, they all played extremely well,” said Scranton Prep head coach Kendra Croker Brunner.
Brunner was named in November as the PIAA Coach of the Year in girls tennis for the 2023-24 school year when the Classics won the state title.
