It was good to be a Golden Hawk at last weekend’s District One 3A tennis singles championship held at the Springfield (Delco) YMCA.
One Council Rock South tennis player earned a berth to the PIAAs while another made arguably the tournament’s biggest Cinderella run.
Council Rock South junior and three seed Dasha Chichkina clinched a return trip to the state tennis tournament on Friday. Tennisrecruiting.net’s fifth-ranked Pennsylvanian in the class of 2024, Chichkina punched her states ticket with a 6-2, 6-3 Friday quarterfinal win over Central Bucks South sophomore Grace Piro, the sixth seed. Prior to that in the second round, Chichkina dispatched Radnor’s Mia Xie 6-2, 6-0. The district semifinalists all clinched a berth in the PIAAs.
Last fall, Chichkina advanced to both the district and the PIAA semifinals, falling to Unionville’s Grace Li in districts and losing to eventual champion, North Penn’s Esha Velaga, in states.
Chichkina, the SOL Patriot doubles champion in 2020, had a chance to avenge the loss to Li in Saturday’s final but Li went home with the winner’s trophy after a 7-5, 6-0 win. Chichkina arrived at Saturday’s final after beating Spring-Ford junior Mia Matriccino 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 earlier in the afternoon.
Piro, who won her opening district match last year as a freshman, won two matches in districts last Friday. She topped Harriton’s Rachel Wang 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round and beat Conestoga’s Jennifer He 6-3, 6-4. Tennisrecruiting.net lists Piro as a top 10 sophomore in the state.
Chichkina’s teammate, freshman Michelle Lerman, did not make the PIAA tournament but she served notice that there are multiple talents within the Golden Hawk flock. Lerman beat Wissahickon’s Yiyi Huang 7-6, 6-2 in the first round and upset eighth-seeded CB East senior Kaveena Ponamgi 6-2, 6-3 in the second round. Lerman ultimately fell to top-seeded Li in the quarterfinals.
Ponamgi earned a first-round win, beating Spring-Ford junior Evelyn Mejia 6-3, 6-3. Ponamgi’s teammate and classmate Elizabeth Wilson played in the lone opening-round match that required a tiebreaker. Wilson came out on the short end of a 6-2, 2-6, 0-1 tete-a-tete with WC Henderson junior Kaitlyn Evans.
The PIAAs will be held on Nov. 4 and 5 at the Hershey Racquet Club.
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