STATE COLLEGE — The State College Area High School girls’ tennis team has aced the first portion of its schedule.
Keyed by reigning District 6 Class 3A singles runner-up Kelly Vanden’s quartet of straight-set victories, the Lady Little Lions got off to a perfect start through four matches, the latest being a 5-0 win over visiting Mifflin County on Aug. 27.
“We did a nice job under the circumstances,” State College coach Jill Borden said. “It was the first day of school and it was warm, but we stayed focused and played well. We are off to a good start this season and we are a relatively young team. The girls are doing a nice job of trying to improve on a daily basis, and we hope to continue to do that throughout the season.”
The Lady Little Lions preceded the Mifflin County victory with triumphs over Palmyra, Northern and Harrisburg, all by 5-0 counts.
Vanden fell to Altoona’s Jess Stevens in last year’s D6 final. Now that Stevens has graduated, Vanden is the heir apparent to the district crown and did nothing to dispel those expectations in the opening week of action by dropping only four games in her four wins playing No. 1 singles for the Lady Little Lions.
Vanden dispatched Palmyra’s Katie Hollen and Harrisburg’s Jasmine Mitts, 6-0, 6-0. She was a 6-1, 6-0 victor against Northern’s Audra White and then knocked off Mifflin County’s Kristen Foltz, 6-2, 6-0, on Aug. 27.
Catelyn Janac has been every bit as dominant at No. 2 singles, sweeping her four matches. She bested Northern’s Kim Johnson, Harrisburg’s Saonyah Carr and Mifflin County’s Alexis Maxwell all 6-0, 6-0; only Palmyra’s Allison Yap avoided being shut out by Janac, 6-1, 6-2.
Amelia Dodoo captured all three of her matches at No. 3 singles, including a love-love win against Mifflin County’s Sydney Kyle.
Sruthi Ramesh and Claire Zheng went 4-0 in doubles action. The duo took a 6-0, 6-1 team point playing in the No. 1 slot against Harrisburg, winning their other three contests at the No. 2 position while dropping only five games.
Keya Ahrestani and Marissa Xu were a perfect 3-0 filling the No. 1 doubles role against Palmyra, Northern and Mifflin County. Rachel Buterbaugh and Saoirse Hopp garnered a team point with a straight-set win at No. 2 doubles in the Harrisburg match.
The Lady Little Lions junior varsity also has been formidable in the early going, winning all three of its matches.
Girls soccer
The Grace Prep girls’ soccer team opened the 2018 season with a goal, but that turned out to be the highlight of the afternoon for the Lady Storm, as visiting Blair County Christian came back to post a 4-1 win at Homestead Park in State College on Aug. 24.
Midfielder Sarah Zubler needed only eight minutes to notch Grace Prep’s first goal of the campaign on an unassisted, left-footed tally.
Blair Christian’s Mallory Hileman netted the equalizer four minutes later, putting a crossing pass from Sarah McCoy past Lady Storm goalkeeper Makayla Lee. The Lady Bobcats took the lead for keeps on Madison Snyder’s unassisted goal in the 20th minute, and Blair Christian was the beneficiary of an own goal in the 40th minute to secure a 3-1 lead at the half.
Snyder scored off a pass from McCoy in the second half to set the final.
Grace Prep was limited to eight shots on goal. Lee stopped eight shots for the Lady Storm.
