Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League

Alma Mater: Peters Township, 1999 | Sport: Tennis

A 1999 graduate of Peters Township, Sarah Riske is one of seven student-athletes to win three WPIAL girls’ tennis singles titles and one of six WPIAL players to win multiple PIAA girls’ tennis singles gold medals. Riske defeated North Allegheny’s Dani Frisk as a freshman to claim the WPIAL championship, then went on to place fourth in her PIAA debut. She was the WPIAL runner-up as a sophomore and claimed bronze at the PIAA Singles Championships, then returned to the top of the WPIAL singles circuit as a junior and senior. Riske captured the 1997 PIAA singles title with a 6-2, 7-6(5) win over Central Bucks East’s Kristen White, and defended her crown in 1998 with a 6-0, 6-4 triumph against Greensburg Salem’s Kristen Nowicki. She capped her high school career by winning the 1998 United States Tennis Association (USTA) Under-18 International Grass Court Championship before starting her collegiate career at Vanderbilt University. Riske was a four-time All-American with the Commodores – breaking a record for any Vanderbilt athlete with two plaudits in singles and two in doubles – and helped the team finish as the 2001 national runner-up. She and teammate Aleke Tsoubanos captured the doubles title at the 2002 Riviera/International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women’s All-American Championships, and once earned the No. 1 national ranking in doubles in 2003. Following graduation from Vanderbilt, Riske enjoyed a professional career from 2003-06 on the ITF World Tennis Tour and won a total of four doubles tournaments and one singles tournament.