It was a day of close calls for the two local tennis players left in the District 3 singles tournament, but in the end both came up just short.
Nicole Coons of Mechanicsburg dropped a hotly contested Class AAA semifinal to Katie Wagner of Susquehannock 7-6(4),7-6(7) Monday at Hershey Racquet Club. Elco’s Maddie Shaak, meanwhile, finally conquered the Spoden Wall (more on that later), only to fall to Wyomissing powerhouse Audrey Ann Blakely 6-0, 6-1 in the AA championship.
Coons’ high school career later came to a close in the third-place match when she lost to Penn Manor’s Katina Jones 6-4, 6-1, falling one slot shy of qualifying for the PIAA tournament. Shaak getting through to the district finals Monday ensured her of a state playoff berth.
“I had Nicole since ninth grade and I saw her mature and blossom into a really good player,” Mechanicsburg coach Linda Till said. “She put her heart and soul into the match with Katie and I think all her adrenaline stayed in that first match. ... She was an anchor for us, and it will be sad to see her go. It was an absolute joy to coach her.”
The top-seeded Wagner went on to claim the AAA gold with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Wilson’s Sruthi Kamprath.
Mechanicsburg’s ace ran into a mirror player in Wagner, a baseline slugger with a heavy forehand sink. The two traded wicked volleys during the entire run of their match, one so close that it required tiebreaks to decide both sets.
Coons stayed with the plan established during Saturday’s first two rounds by mixing it up, charging the net and attempting drops and slices when the moment felt right. Unlike Saturday, however, when her game was humming, Monday’s match semifinal with Wagner saw an increase in the number of unforced errors, with several falling short at the net.
“The tiebreakers didn’t go the way I wanted, obviously,” Coons said. “She’s a great player and has a lot of upside to her game and deserves it. I thought I played really well, battling with a player who’s that good.”
Coons clawed her way back from 3-6 in the second-set tiebreak to win four straight and get to set point, but Wagner closed it out with her own rally by winning the next three and the match.
Shaak beat Anna Spoden of York Catholic in the AA semifinal rather convincingly by a 6-0, 6-2 count, an eye-popping linescore given that she had lost to either Anna or her older sister Ava in districts three straight years. This time, however, Shaak seized control from the go and never really let off the gas pedal.
“I was very motivated,” Shaak said. “I tried not to think about it too much, I just let my emotions take over. I was very focused.”
Facing Wyomissing’s Blakely in the final was another matter. Pouncing on everything like a caged tiger, Blakely suffocated Shaak’s game by keeping her pinned deep most of the match and executing her return shots with very few unforced errors.
It was a fearsome display of power tennis from the Wyomissing legacy, who was herself shut out of district titles by Lancaster County Day concrete roadblock and three-time state champ Julia Casselbury, since graduated.
Spoden went on to clinch the third and final state berth in AA with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Lancaster Catholic’s Lil Veronis.
The D-3 tournament continues Tuesday with the team tennis semifinals at HRC. Top-ranked and unbeaten Hershey plays Wagner’s Susquehannock squad at noon in AAA, while Cedar Crest takes its shot against L-L champ Manheim Twp.
JEFF DEWEES:jdewees@pnco.com
ON TWITTER: @pn_jdewees