Quaker Valley senior Kirsten Close and freshman Avery Allan dropped a total of seven games throughout the Class 2A tournament, and captured the gold with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over North Catholic sophomore Brea Kelley and senior Katie Hardy. Close and Allan, the top seed, received a bye to begin the championships, then topped North Catholic sophomore Samantha Falcon and freshman Evelyn Marche (10-3) and Oakland Catholic sophomore Mollie Sclichter and junior Luciana Easly (6-0, 6-0) to make the final.
Kelley and Hardy, the two seed, lost just one game en route to the championship match. The duo defeated Valley senior Alexandra Thomey and sophomore Karrigan Thomey and Aquinas Academy freshman Alexandra Swift and sophomore Katherine Gillespie by identical 10-0 scores, then topped Greensburg Central Catholic senior Sasha Hoffman and sophomore Emilia Longhi by a 6-1, 6-0 scoreline.
Fourth-seeded Sclichter and Easly bested third-seeded Hoffman and Longhi in the third-place consolation match, 7-6(3), 6-2.
Close entered the WPIAL Girls’ Tennis Singles Championships at the 2021 silver medalist, while the duo of Kelley and Hardy as well as Sclichter in Class 3A won bronze last season. Kelley and Hardy were silver medalists at last year’s PIAA Girls’ Tennis Doubles Championships, and Close and Sclichter will be making their second PIAA appearances.
PIAA PREVIEW
Dates & Location: Nov. 1-2 at Hershey Racquet Club
Amount of Champions from WPIAL: 37 (34 in Class 3A, 3 in Class 2A)
Class 2A Qualifiers: Kirsten Close (12)/Avery Allan (9), Quaker Valley; Brea Kelley (10)/Katie Hardy (12), North Catholic; Mollie Sclichter (10)/Luciana Easly (11), Oakland Catholic