Defending District 6 Class 3A runner-up Quiana Guo and Madeline Miller were unbeaten in singles play as the State College Area High School girls’ tennis team opened the season 3-0.
“The girls did a nice job again,” Lady Little Lions coach Jane Borden said following a 4-1 triumph over visiting Carlisle on Monday. “We are still learning to manage our nerves and get off to a good start at the beginning of matches.“
Nervousness didn’t show much as, in addition to the win against Carlisle, State College defeated visiting Red Land, 5-0, on Aug. 26 and went on the road to dispatch Central Dauphin East, 5-0, on Tuesday.
Playing at No. 1 singles, Guo was a 6-0, 6-1 winner in the season-opener, a 6-1, 6-0 victor against Carlisle’s Natalie O’Neill and posted an 8-0 win against CD East’s Julia Miller.
Madeline Miller had to gut out a 1-6, 6-2, 10-4 triumph at No. 3 singles against Carlisle’s Rody Ade, but she won in straight sets against Red Land, 6-1, 6-0, and bested Rachel Lasuer, 8-0, in the CD East match.
Both State doubles teams also completed the first week of the season with unblemished marks. The No. 1 team of Allison Norloff and Emily Zhang won 6-0, 6-2 against Red Land, 6-1, 6-1 against Carlisle’s Olivia Myers and Morgan Potions and 8-0 against CD East’s Ashmita Chamlogic and Sabina Mager. Playing No. 2 doubles, Jordan Dye and Marissa Xu beat the Red Land team, 6-0, 6-0, topped Carlisle’s Macy Barnhoff and Lilly Puher, 6-3, 7-5, and turned back CD East’s Densley Mogene and Ishmerti Neopany, 8-0.
Lady Little Lion No. 2 singles player Kelly Steel went 2-1. Steel was a 6-0, 6-2 winner against Red Land and an 8-0 winner against Central Dauphin East’s Lizzy Yetter but dropped a 7-5, 6-0 verdict to Carlisle’s Callie Culbertson.
State College travels to Cumberland Valley on Friday then hosts Mechanicsburg at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
This story appears in the Sept. 2-8 edition of the Centre County Gazette.
