CARLISLE — A fall during a road match forced State College Area High School tennis coach Jane Borden to make a precautionary trip to the hospital. Borden was fine.
Her Lady Little Lions didn’t have any missteps during the first week of the season at all.
Virginia Paterno and Ephrasinia Shimelis were perfect in singles as State College opened the season with four wins, capped by a 5-0 sweep at Carlisle on Monday, Aug. 28.
Paterno was a 6-2, 6-3 victor against Amelia Hough of the Thundering Herd in the second singles slot, while Shimelis dispatched Mia Pfister, 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3.
No. 1 singles player Joanna Liu topped Rory Ade, 6-2, 6-4. Ava Bechtal and Lydia Shen teamed to beat Elena Rosmussen and Emily Combs, 6-1, 6-0 in first doubles. Lyla Higgins and Kara Lin completed the shutout with a 6-0, 6-2 triumph against Macie Burge and Brianna Still.
State opened the campaign with a 5-0 victory over visiting Red Land on Tuesday, Aug. 22, then won nine of 10 matches to go 2-0 in a swing through Chambersburg and Central Dauphin East on Friday, Aug. 26.
Liu picked up her first win as the Lady Little Lions No. 1 singles player by downing Red Land’s Maura Duvall by a 6-2, 6-4 count. Paterno and Shimelis turned back Zoie Zeiders and Natalie Ritchie, respectively, 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-0.
State College used different pairings in doubles in the opener. Higgins was joined by Kazie Singwell for a 6-2, 6-3 win against Sarah Minnich and Ellie Devita. Emma Chen formed the winning second doubles duo with Shen, 6-1, 6-0 over Jessica Ryan and Shaeli McGreary.
In the first half of Friday’s doubleheader, neither Liu nor Shimelis nor the No. 2 doubles team of Higgins and Lin dropped a game in the 5-0 sweep. Paterno won her singles match, 6-0, 6-2, and Bechtal and Shen prevailed, 6-0, 6-2.
The doubles team both won in straight sets in the 4-1 team win at Chambersburg later that day. Shen and Dingwell put away Ashlee Barrett and Shelby Newman, 6-2, 6-0, with Higgins and Chen overcoming Leah Wadel and Zoe Dereef, 6-1, 6-2.
Paterno bested Charlie Kalathas, 6-1, 6-2, while Shimelis turned aside Reese Miller, 6-1, 6-0. Chambersburg’s Sarah Vesch kept the Lady Trojans from being blanked by stopping Liu, 6-3, 6-3.
