ALTOONA — They were paving the street between Baker Mansion and Mansion Park early in the afternoon on Wednesday, Sept. 29.
Less than 50 yards away, an unflappable Quiana Guo was paving her way to State College’s first District 6 Class 3A girls’ singles title in a half-decade.
Not flustered by the noise or her opponent’s powerful forehand and pouncing on a break in the early going, Guo, the third-seeded junior, handled top-seeded rival Gretta Rhoades of Hollidaysburg in surprisingly efficient fashion, 6-3, 6-1, in the tournament finals at the Herb Faris Tennis Courts.
It was the first time a State College girl donned the gold medal since Yvonne Peters-Washington defeated Cathy Badding in an all-Lady Little Lion final at Penn State in 2016. To find the last prior State College girl to win the tournament, one has to go back to Corinne Jones in 2009, when she won the second of back-to-back crowns.
“I’m really proud and happy,” said Guo, a two-time D6-3A doubles champion and the No. 1 singles player on State’s district team champion last year as well as this season.
“I’ve been working all year, throughout the winter. Penn State was closed so we played outdoors. That was fun. I just have such great coaches that are willing to help me and such great girls that are always cheering me on.”
Guo was the runner-up last year to Altoona’s Morgan Stevens, who she dispatched in this year’s semifinal rematch in straight sets the day before the finals. Stevens was the second seed entering the tourney.
“She’s got an incredible work ethic. You can’t keep her off the court,” said Lady Little Lion coach Jane Borden, who is assisted by Rob Tawse and Ming Tien.
“She knows what she wants and she knows it was going to take a lot of hard work to get here. She’s incredibly focused. You see in a match like this, these kids are equal ability-wise, but, when it comes down to the mental part, Q is one of the best.”
Also a junior, Rhodes might be the hardest hitter in District 6. Guo, though, was able to keep her from getting on rolls by keeping her off-balance with a variety of shots and sometimes just plain determination. The pair had squared off eight days earlier with Guo taking a hard-fought, three-set match.
“I was freaking out in school because I was so nervous, but, once I got here, I was calm,” Guo said.
Guo broke Rhodes’ serve four times in the first set, then reeled of six straight games in the second set after Rhodes broke her by love in the first game of the second set. Guo fought off five game points in the second set, denying Rhodes a chance to break her serve two other times.
Guo finished strong, hitting two winners to finish the sixth game of the second set, then hitting three more in the deciding game before coming up with her only ace of the day on match point.
It was a progression for Guo, who’s gone from district semifinalist to finalist to champion, picking up any tricks to add to her toolbox along the way.
“Altoona likes to lob and Hollidaysburg likes to slice, so I learned to slice this year. I also learned to deal with a higher lob, taking it early rather than going all the way back and taking it then,” Guo said.
“I was mainly hitting it deeper (against Rhodes), because I know she, like me, likes to stay on the baseline. If it’s deep and it’s faster, she won’t have enough time to take such a big swing and hit it harder back.”
Borden said the game plan also involved playing as much as possible to Rhodes’ backhand to keep away from her cannon forehand. The result was Guo racking up 17 winners to Rhodes’ nine and 24 unforced errors to Rhodes’ 36.
“I wasn’t focusing on winners that much,” Guo said. “I was focusing on putting the ball in play and making her outhit me because I knew she was frustrated.”
Guo also capitalized on a controversial call en route to gaining momentum in the match.
With the opening set even at a game apiece, Guo trailed 40-15 when she hit a shot into the back corner that Rhodes called out. However, PIAA official Dave Long overruled Rhodes’ call.
It was an unusual turn of events and Rhodes was visibly upset. She double-faulted for one of just three times in the match on the next point to bring it to deuce.
Guo hit a winner to take the advantage, then put away a Rhodes shot at the net to go up 2-1.
She held her next two serves for a 5-2 lead before closing at the first set.
“If you let that get to you, it will get to you,” Guo said of the overrule. “But, if you say, ‘It’s only one call. Let’s take it from here. I can do it,’ it’s just playing your game.”
The Lady Little Lions went 3-0 in dual matches during the week, as well. Guo was given the day off as State blanked Harrisburg, 5-0, on Friday, Oct. 1, with Marissa Xu, Emily Zhang and Allison Norloff all winning love-love in singles and the doubles teams of Bea Fernandez-Medina and Ephrasinia Shimelis and Kara Lin and Alina Hatfield prevailing without dropping a game in doubles.
On Monday, State College improved to 14-3 by sweeping a Mid-Penn Conference doubleheader with Cedar Cliff and Chambersburg.
Guo won her matches 8-2 and 8-1, Kelly Steel notched 8-0 and 8-1 victories and Madeline Miller was on the positive end of 8-1 and 8-1 decisions in the singles matches. Zhang and Norloff won each of their doubles matches by 8-1 counts, while Xu and Jordan Dye won 8-0 over Chambersburg and 8-2 against Cedar Cliff.
State College hosts Shikellamy at 4:30 p.m. on Monday in the first round of the District 6 team championships.
This story appears in the Oct. 7-13 edition of the Centre County Gazette.
