Crosby Denis and Grace Muriceak celebrate after winning a game in the District 4-6 Class 3A Doubles Final against State College.

By John Hartsock

jhartsock@altoonamirror.com

In doubles tennis, perhaps nothing predicates a team’s success more than the familiarity factor between the players involved.

That was the case Wednesday afternoon in the District 4-6 doubles tennis championships at the Summit Tennis and Athletic Club for the tandem of Hollidaysburg sophomores Crosby Denis and Grace Muriceak, and the Central team of juniors Kate Dunn and Zoe Grill.

The top-seeded Denis and Muriceak team won its District 6 Class 3A title match in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, over the second-seeded State College team of senior Abby Chen and sophomore Joanna Liu, while the fifth-seeded Central squad of Dunn and Grill worked a bit longer to win its championship match, 6-3 and 6-6 with a decisive 9-7 tiebreaker, over the third-seeded Central Cambria squad of senior Alli Morgan and sophomore Taryn Ream.

Both district championship teams earned berths in the state doubles tournament, set for Nov. 1-2 at the Hershey Racquet Club.

Denis and Muriceak are close friends who have been playing tennis together for several years.

“It’s great to win the district doubles tournament and go to the state doubles tournament again, and there is nobody that I would rather do it with than Grace,” said Denis, who won the district doubles title and advanced to state competition last year with the since-graduated Megan Ferris.

“We’ve played together since the seventh grade,” Denis said of her long tennis affiliation with Muriceak.

Consistency was a big factor in a thoroughly sound performance by the Hollidaysburg team.

“Our consistency was important today,” Muriceak said. “We kept a positive mindset throughout the match, and the key was getting off to a good start and then being able to close it out.”

Hollidaysburg coach Brian Denis — Crosby’s father — coaches both girls throughout the year and noted that they both have put in work year-round to perfect their games.

“It’s really cool this year for Crosby and Grace to win districts and go to states, because they’re such good friends who gel really well on the tennis court,” Brian Denis said. “I work with both of them 52 weeks out of the year, and neither has missed a lesson all year round. Grace is like a second daughter to me.

“They had a very solid performance today against a good State College team,” Brian Denis added.

State College coach Jane Borden congratulated the Hollidaysburg duo on a good effort.

“Hollidaysburg played very well,” Borden said, “I wish those two players all the best at states.”

Both Liu and Chen were happy with their performances.

“I thought that we played really good together,” Liu said. “We played one of our best matches of the year.”

Chen echoed that sentiment, saying “Even though we lost, I thought that we played our best, and that we played really well.”

The Central tandem of Dunn and Grill continued its impressive surge through the tournament with Wednesday’s Class 2A championship victory.

The Dunn-Grill team, seeded fifth, pulled off two upsets Monday to reach the finals – including a straight-set victory over the top-seeded and defending District 6 Class 2A doubles championship team of Central Cambria’s Marley Ratchford and Lydia Paskowski in the semifinals.

“That was the match that we knew that we had to try to win,” Central coach Shaun Coppersmith said of his team’s semifinal upset. “I knew that if our players played the way they can, they could win (the championship match), but just because today’s match favored us on paper didn’t mean anything. Our girls still had to go out and win the match.”

Central gutted out a tiebreaker to snap a 6-6 deadlock in the second set to win it, 9-7, and sew up the title.

“They told me when the score was tied that they didn’t want to play a third set, so I told them to go out and win the second set,” Coppersmith said with a chuckle. “They played doubles together two years ago, but they hadn’t played together all of this regular season, so it took them a couple games to get back into the groove.”

Dunn said that it was important for her and Grill to maintain their composure in what was a very hard-fought championship match.

“It was a tense match, and they played great,” Dunn said of the Central Cambria team of Morgan and Ream. “It was fun playing with them. Our strategy was just to go point-by-point, and game-by-game. That was our mantra today.”

The fact that Dunn and Grill, like Crosby Dennis and Muriceak, are good friends who have played together in the past also helped them.

“We’re close friends who have a good dynamic playing together,” Grill said. “That definitely helped us out.”

The Central Cambria duo of Morgan and Ream played their hearts out in defeat.

“There was a lot of pressure on them, and they had plenty of nerves at the beginning of the match, but they both played great,” Central Cambria coach Kristin Cavalier said of her two doubles finalists. “I’m very proud of how they both played. They just came up a little short.”

Morgan said that it was important for Ream and herself to keep their chins up after losing the first set.

“We just kept our spirits up and kept pushing each other,” Morgan said.

Ream was also happy with her effort and Morgan’s, even though it didn’t result in a championship.

“I feel like we played pretty well,” Ream said. “We went in as underdogs, but we fought back.”

Going to state competition will be another adventure for both the Hollidaysburg and Central doubles players, who along with Central Cambria, will be involved with their teams in the District 6 team tournaments next week.

“It’s going to be fun,” Coppersmith said of the state doubles competition that will involve Dunn and Grill. “They’ve never been there before, and it will be a good experience for them. They have inspired other girls tennis players at the school to put the necessary time in to get better.”

DISTRICT 6 CLASS 3A CHAMPIONSHIP

(Seeds in parentheses)

(1) Crosby Denis-Grace Muriceak, Hollidaysburg, def. (2) Joanna Liu-Abby Chen, State College, 6-1, 6-2.

DISTRICT 6 CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIP

(5) Kate Dunn-Zoe Grill, Central, def. (3) Alli Morgan-Taryn Ream, Central Cambria, 6-3, 6-6 (9-7 tiebreaker).