As a freshman, Ilana Rosenthal provided the most important point of a state team championship season.
Now, the Wyoming Seminary sophomore has a singles gold medal to bring home from Hershey.
Rosenthal captured the Class 2A title at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Tennis Singles Championships with two wins Saturday, following two wins Friday.
Saturday afternoon’s final was a rematch of the three-set No. 1 singles match for the deciding point in last year’s PIAA team final when Wyoming Seminary defeated Sewickley Academy, 3-2, for the Class 2A title.
This time, no third set was needed.
In fact, the match lasted the minimum 12 games with Rosenthal defeating Ashley Close, 6-0, 6-0, for the title.
Although the championship was the most decisive victory, Rosenthal was in command throughout the tournament.
Rosenthal’s toughest match came in Saturday morning’s semifinal when she faced South Park’s Nicole Kempton, who had beaten Close in the District 7 final.
Kempton was the only player in the tournament to win more than one game in a set against Rosenthal, who advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Rosenthal lost just three games in her other six sets. She was the only player from outside District 7 (suburban Pittsburgh) among the four semifinalists.
