Pittsburgh, Pa. -The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) revealed its brackets for the WPIAL/UPMC Sports Medicine Girls’ Tennis Singles Championships on Tuesday, with 31 student-athletes qualifying through section tournaments.
Three former WPIAL champions highlight the bracket in Belle Vernon senior Gabriella Dusi, Shady Side Academy junior Meriwether McCargo, and Penn-Trafford senior Amelia Williams. Dusi and McCargo are both looking for their third straight WPIAL singles titles and to forever etch their name in WPIAL history.
Winning section championships in Class 3A were Williams (Section I), North Hills senior Elinor Kim (Section II), McCargo (Section III), and Fisher (Section IV). In Class 2A, Mt. Pleasant senior Bella Fullman (Section I), Oakland Catholic's own Mollie Sclichter (Section II), North Catholic’s Evelyn Marche (Section III), Beaver senior Anna Mrkonja (Section IV), and a newcomer to the bracket Avery Allan (Section V) took home section titles. Williams became a four-time section champion, with Dusi and McCargo taking home three-straight section titles. Mrkonja has now won two straight sections with Fullman, Marche, and Kim being first time recipients.
Last season, McCargo faced off against Williams again in the finals with McCargo winning by a score of 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5), while Dusi defeated Hampton’s Grace Stitt by a 6-1, 6-0 scoreline to claim gold in Class 2A. Both reigning champions were selected as top seeds in their respective brackets.
The WPIAL/UPMC Sports Medicine Girls’ Tennis Singles Championships will be held on Sept. 17-18. The first round through semifinals will be held at Bethel Park High School and North Allegheny High School (Class 3A only) on Wednesday, Sept. 17, and all finals and consolation finals will be held at North Allegheny on Thursday, Sept. 18. The top three finishers in both classifications will move onto the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Girls’ Tennis Singles Championships.
CHAMPIONSHIP CAPSULE
Dates & Locations: Sept. 17-18 at Bethel Park High School, Sept. 18 at North Allegheny High School (Class 3A)
Amount of Qualifiers: 31 (16 in Class 3A, 15 in Class 2A)
Class 3A Top Four Seeds: #1 Meriwether McCargo (11), Shady Side Academy; #2 Amelia Williams (12), Penn-Trafford; #3 Cami Fisher (12), Bethel Park; #4 Elinor Kim (12), North Hills
Class 2A Top Four Seeds: #1 Gabriella Dusi (12), Belle Vernon; #2 Avery Allan (10), Quaker Valley; #3 Mollie Sclichter (11), Oakland Catholic; #4 Anna Mrkonja (12), Beaver
2024 Class 3A Final: Meriwether McCargo (Shady Side Academy) def. Amelia Williams (Penn-Trafford), 7-6(1), 6-1.
2024 Class 2A Final: Gabriella Dusi (Belle Vernon) def. Chloe DeSanzo (Beaver), 6-1, 6-0.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 1973: The first season that the WPIAL held girls’ tennis singles championships, which was won by Mt. Lebanon’s Berta McCallum over Greensburg Salem’s Molly Wesner.
- 26: The number of schools who have boasted at least one WPIAL girls’ tennis singles champion.
- 18: The number of student-athletes who have won two or more WPIAL girls’ tennis singles championships.
- 12: The number of WPIAL girls’ tennis singles championships won by Mt. Lebanon student-athletes, a league record. The Blue Devils won in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1996, 2012, and 2013.
- 4: The number of WPIAL girls’ tennis singles championships won by Knoch’s Laura Greb, the only student-athlete to win four in a row. Greb swept Class 2A from 2017 to 2020.
- 2: The number of student-athletes to win WPIAL singles championships in boys’ tennis and girls’ tennis. Quaker Valley’s Annie Houghton won girls’ titles in 2003 and 2004 before claiming the 2006 boys’ crown, while Sarah Shashura won girls’ gold in 2008 for California and 2011 for Brownsville, and boys’ gold for California in 2010.
CLASS 3A SECTION CHAMPIONS
Section I: Amelia Williams (12), Penn-Trafford
Section II: Elinor Kim (12), North Hills
Section III: Meriwether McCargo (11), Shady Side Academy
Section IV: Cami Fisher (11), Bethel Park
CLASS 2A SECTION CHAMPIONS
Section I: Bella Fullman (12), Mt. Pleasant
Section II: Mollie Sclichter (11), Oakland Catholic
Section III: Evelyn Marche (10), North Catholic
Section IV: Anna Mrkonja (12), Beaver
Section V: Avery Allan (10), Quaker Valley
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