Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League

 
Latrobe’s Michaela Kissell-Eddins didn’t lose a match in her first three seasons of high school tennis from 2003-05. Not in the regular season and not in the postseason. She won three section titles, three consecutive WPIAL titles and followed each with a PIAA championship in her freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons. As a senior in 2006-07, knee surgery forced her to skip girls’ tennis season in the fall. Once healthy, she chose to play boys tennis in the spring and still didn’t lose a match until the quarterfinal round of the WPIAL Class AAA boys’ singles tournament. After high school, Kissell-Eddins played two seasons at college tennis powerhouse Miami (Fla.) before transferring to Marshall, where she earned all-conference honors twice and was ranked as the No. 1 player in the Atlantic Region both years. She also was named Conference USA Newcomer of the Year in 2010. In two seasons at Marshall, Kissell-Eddins went 110-41 combined in singles and doubles matches. She was ranked as high as No. 27 in singles and No. 23 in doubles. Her singles record of 55-21 ranked as the fourth-best winning percentage (72.3%) in Marshall history and her doubles record (55-20, 73.3%) ranked ninth best. After college, Kissell-Eddins entered coaching, including stints as head coach at Pitt and Western Carolina. As a high school player, it wasn’t just the victories, but also the dominance with which she won that was most amazing. In her first three WPIAL and PIAA girls’ tournaments combined, she lost only one set. In fact, while cruising through the three state brackets, Kissell-Eddins won 139 of the 169 games she played and won every final in straight sets. In 2003, she won 6-2, 6-4 in the state finals. She won 6-1, 6-0 in 2004, and 6-0, 1-0 in 2005, when her opponent retired with an injury.