The District One 3A girls tennis matches concluded on Saturday with the doubles final. Two Council Rock South underclassmen – the No. 5 seeded duo of sophomore Michelle Lerman and junior Anya Zubenko – took home a gold medal.
The duo defeated Conestoga seniors and No. 2 seeded Kate Emmanuel and Jennifer He 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Earlier in the day, Lerman and Zubenko knocked off top-seeded Spring-Ford seniors Mia Matriccino/Evelyn Mejia by the same 6-2, 6-3 score.
Council Rock South sent two teams to district doubles. Ironically, Lerman and Zubenko had to defeat their Golden Hawks teammates, sophomore Kim Chen and senior Emma Traktovenko, in Friday’s quarterfinal 6-4, 6-2 to earn a spot in the PIAAs.
Lerman and Zubenko beat Radnor seniors Emma Fox and Sophie Carter 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round and topped Conestoga’s Melissa Fan/Sofia Calvitti 6-3, 6-0 in the second round.
Chen/Traktovenko beat Abington’s Jessica Chacko and Jada Young 6-2, 6-3 in the first and got by Unionville’s Stanislawcyzk twins – Allie and Emma – with a tough 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 win in the second round.
No. 3 Grace Piro and Cynthia Zhang, two Central Bucks South juniors, earned first-round byes but fell to West Chester Henderson seniors Kaitlyn Evans/Kiera Koay 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. Central Bucks East sophomore Jaime Poon and senior Kate Zhangchen fought valiantly but lost their first-round match to Downingtown East’s Danielle Litvan and Maya Shankar 7-6, 6-7, 10-8.
The Golden Hawks had earlier turned in two superlative performances in districts. Top-seeded Council Rock South defeated No. 2 Conestoga 3-2 on Oct. 16 to win the District One title. The Golden Hawks followed that up with an easy 4-0 win over District Three’s fourth-place Hempfield in the first round of PIAA play on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
State quarterfinals, semifinals and finals take place on Friday and Saturday at the Hershey Racquet Club. The Golden Hawks next take on District Seven runner-up North Allegheny.
On Sept. 30, CR South standout senior Dasha Chichkina won the silver medal in district singles for the second consecutive year. Chichkina is also the reigning state runner-up.
Chichkina, Lerman and Zubenko will try to earn state titles at the Hershey Racquet Club on Nov. 4 and 5.
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