When Wyoming Seminary won the state team girls tennis tournament Saturday in Hershey, it was the first for a District 2 girls team.
It was not, however, the first Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tennis championship for Wyoming Seminary.
Wyoming Seminary won the first state boys team title ever decided in 2001 and Nathalie Joanlanne won a state girls singles title in 2013.
In the spring of 2001, Wyoming Seminary went undefeated, including a 5-0 victory over Wyomissing in the state final.
Wyoming Seminary, which also advanced to the state boys title match in 2012 before losing, had reached the 2001 final with a 3-2 victory over Moravian Academy in the semifinals.
There have been six previous PIAA state championships in girls tennis by District 2 entries.
Christine Kansky from Crestwood won twice in singles in 2001 and 2003.
Riverside’s Karissa Ghigiarelli has a chance to duplicate that feat. She won the 2019 title as a sophomore and is unbeaten going into next weekend’s state singles tournament.
Joanlanne gave Wyoming Seminary its first state title in girls tennis in 2013. After being pushed to three sets in the first round, she won three straight matches in straight sets. Joanlanne made it through a second-set tiebreaker to finish off a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory over McConnellsburg’s Bronwyne Mellott.
Scranton Prep has two doubles state titles.
Sheila Rao and Rachel Pugliese won the first in 1998. Liz Karam and Abby Pugliese added another six years later.
Scranton Prep has reached the state girls team final six times, but lost each time in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014. The 2000 team tournament was the first conducted by the PIAA, which has had singles and doubles tournaments since 1973.
