D2 TENNIS: Arp and Rosenthal repeat as singles champions
Oct. 11—WILKES-BARRE — With a calm resolve, Susan Arp stared down adversity and never lost sight of the goal.
Pushed to the brink in her semifinal and final matches, the Abington Heights junior defended her District 2 Class 3A singles title Tuesday afternoon at Kirby Park. After receiving her gold medal, teammates, family and friends showered her with Hershey's Kisses as she punched her ticket to the PIAA Championships on Nov. 3.
"It feels so good, and I am really happy that I could pull this off," Arp, the top-seeded player, said. "It was a really long day, and I am tired, but it's all good."
Wyoming Seminary junior Ilana Rosenthal also repeated as champion in Class 2A. Last year's winner and eventual PIAA champion defeated Montrose's Cara Evans, 6-0, 6-0, in the final.
"I love this tournament," Rosenthal said. "I play tennis all the time, and I am always traveling across the country to play, but I love coming to play in districts. Cara is a great player, and it was great to get to play her. I moved well, and I moved her well. I had an overall good match."
While Rosenthal dominated the Class 2A tournament, the Class 3A matches were much more nerve-wracking.
In her semifinal, Arp split sets with Delaware Valley's Noelle Holderith, the No. 4 seed, then recovered from a 2-1 deficit in the deciding set to post a 6-4 win.
"Noelle played great," said Arp, who had two wins over Holderith this season. "I am competitive. I realized that it was time to kick things up and start winning the points."
Second-seeded Ziegler also had to rally to reach the final. She and Wallenpaupack's Erika Badner, the No. 3 seed, split their first two sets, and in the third, Ziegler fell behind, 5-1, but won six straight games for a 7-5 win to reach the final.
"There was so much going through my head," Ziegler said. "I just said to myself that this was the semifinals, and if I wanted to get to the final, I had to turn it around. I was just trying to stick with my game. I had a lot of patience and needed to get out of my head. I was just too negative in the second set, but I came back calmly."
Again, Arp struggled to find a rhythm in the opening set. She never, however, looked uncomfortable or unnerved, but still lost, 6-3. Playing with more urgency improved her game, and Arp powered to a 6-2 win.
As the match developed, both players traded shots and looked for good times to be more aggressive and go for winners. Arp's returns became much sharper, and she built a 3-0 lead that led to a 6-1 win to help give her mom and coach, Kelly Arp, more reason to celebrate on her birthday.
"I wasn't going to lose," Susan Arp said. "I really wanted to go back to Hershey. I stopped coming up to the net so much to prevent her from passing me."
Rosenthal dominated with a fierce focus.
A veteran of many high-level tournaments, she overmatched her semifinal and final opponents. Rosenthal, who is ranked second in the state for the Class of 2025 by tennisrecruiting.net, battled through and defeated Scranton Prep's Lily Lengyel, 6-0, 6-3.
Evans, a freshman, reached the final with a stirring straight-sets win over Scranton Prep's Alyssa Wigley, the second-seeded player in the tournament. She avenged a loss to Wigley in the regular season with a steady return game, a powerful serve, and strategic shot placement, 6-3, 6-1.
"I believed in myself more, and I was a lot more confident," said Evans, who is ranked No. 2 in the state among freshmen. "My serves were a lot better this time. My shots were cleaner and much better targeted."
Rosenthal did not underestimate the up-and-comer in the final. She moved the ball around and kept coming up with winning shots through small windows just beyond Evans' reach on the way to a 6-0, 6-0 win.
"It was tough because she is the defending state champion," Evans said. "I definitely gained a lot of experience from this that I can use in the future. But she is really an awesome player."
Since Rosenthal's debut season, where she reached the final and finished as the runner-up to Riverside's Karissa Ghigiarelli, she has won 10 straight matches while only dropping five games as she heads to Hershey for the state tournament.
"I am training at TK Tennis Academy, and I am going to do a lot of work," Rosenthal said. "I am really going to prepare to defend my title."
DISTRICT 2 SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS CLASS 3A Semifinals
1-Susan Arp (Abington Heights) over 4-Noelle Holderith (Delaware Valley), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; 2-Hannah Ziegler (Crestwood) over 3-Erika Badner (Wallenpaupack), 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
Final
1-Arp (Abington Heights) over 2-Ziegler (Crestwood), 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
CLASS 2A Semifinals
1-Ilana Rosenthal (Wyoming Seminary) over 5-Lily Lengyel (Scranton Prep), 6-0, 6-3; 3-Cara Evans (Montrose) over 2-Alyssa Wigley (Scranton Prep), 6-3, 6-1.
Final
1-Rosenthal (Wyoming Seminary) over 3-Evans (Montrose), 6-0, 6-0.
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