ALTOONA — State College senior Ephrasinia Shimelis and freshman Joanna Liu played singles for the Lady Little Lion tennis team most of the season, but they turned out to be pretty good as a team as well.
Shimelis and Liu made it all the way to the District 6 Class 3A girls doubles tournament finals before falling to Hollidaysburg’s top-seeded Megan Ferris and Crosby Denis on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at the Herb Faris Courts at Mansion Park, 6-0, 6-3.
“The district experience makes a big difference. Ferris was a D6 doubles champion last year, so I’m really proud of what E and Jo accomplished,” Lady Little Lion coach Jane Borden said. “They had a great tournament and we couldn’t be more proud.”
After being unable to win a game in the first set, Shimelis and Liu had a 2-1 lead in the second set before the Lady Tiger team found another gear and took five of the last six games.
Shimelis and Liu reached the finals by outlasting Hollidaysburg’s other entry of Regan McKee and Grace Muriceak, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0, in the semifinals on Tuesday, Oct. 3. McKee and Muriceak were the third seed.
In the quarterfinals, Shimelis and Liu were 6-0, 6-1 winners over Shikellamy’s Sabrina Doebler and Shannon Sprenkel.
Despite having very little doubles experience this season, let alone as a team, District 6 seeded the pair second entering the tournament.
“Ephrasinia is by far our best doubles player on the team, so we thought our best pairing would be Joanna and E,” Borden said. “Joanna and E had only practiced together a few times and played a set at Lower Dauphin. It’s really hard to find opportunities to play doubles competitively during our season.”
Borden combined Virginia Paterno and Ava Bechtal as State College’s other team in the bracket. However, Bechtal and Paterno drew Altoona’s fourth-seeded Bella Graham and Courtney Irwin in the opening round and were eliminated, 6-3, 6-3.
