MECHANICSBURG — A light week on the State College Area High School girls tennis schedule turned into a long night.
The Lady Little Lions stumbled for the first time in five matches this season, falling 5-0 at Cumberland Valley on Thursday, Aug. 31. Then, on the return trip, the Lady Little Lion bus encountered mechanical issues, and the team didn’t make it back to State College until around 11 p.m.
It was the first of a challenging two-match stretch for the Lady Little Lions, who were scheduled to face Mechanicsburg after this week’s Gazette press deadline.
“There are lots of top USTA Middle States players on these two teams,” State College coach Jane Borden said.
None of the Lady Little Lion singles players or doubles teams were able to force a third set at Cumberland Valley. No. 3 Ephrasinia Shimelis got closest in singles competition, winning four games against Pranavi Surapaneni before falling, 6-3, 6-1. Shimelis forged a 3-2 advantage in the opening set.
In doubles, Ava Bechtal and Lydia Shen fell to Megha Lomada and Riya Datta, 6-2, 6-2, while Lyla Higgins and Kara Lin dropped a 6-1, 6-3 verdict against Jahnavi Kotapati and Shreya Satheesh.
In first singles, Joanna Liu dropped a 6-0, 6-1 decision to the Lady Eagles’ Riya Srinivas, the reigning Mid Penn Conference Class 3A singles champion. State’s second singles player, Virgina Paterno, was swept by Pragnya Joshi, 6-0, 6-0.
