The Tyrone girls tennis team opened play in the Central Counties Girls Tennis League on Monday dropping a 5-2 match to always an always tough Altoona squad on the victor’s court.
Tyrone dropped all five singles matches, but showed that such adversity will not deter the girls from putting forth their best effort when they came back to win both doubles matches.
Missy Stager and Hilary McNelis downed Covino and A. Pimentel 8-6 and Emily Fitzgerald and Beth Nelson edged Kessler and Miller 8-7.
Tyrone also won one of two exhibition matches with freshman Becky Swann defeating P. Pimentel handily 6-1.
In other action in singles play, S. Fiore defeated Hilary McNelis 6-1, 6-1, A. Andrews defeated Missy Stager 6-0, 6-0, L. Pannebaker decisioned Emily Fitzgerald 6-0, 6-0, C. Rhodes downed Beth Nelson 6-0, 6-0 and E. Scheffer defeated Becky Swann 6-1, 6-1 in singles play. H. Scheffer defeated Monica Brush 8-1 in exhibition action.
This was the opening match for both teams in Central Counties League play. Coach Fitzgerald was pleased with the play of all five starters and noted “the doubles teams played well against experienced players and Becky Swann played one of the best matches of the day and is a welcome addition to the Eagles’ team this year.
The Lady Eagles, coached by Rev, Charles Fitzgerald in his seventh season, are very young this season. Having graduated 13 seniors over the past two years, Tyrone starts two juniors, Beth Nelson and Emily Fitzgerald, two sophomores, Missy Stager and Hilary McNelis and one freshman in Becky Swann. Rev. Fitzgerald mentioned that this team, with nine or 10 girls on the roster, once everybody gets over injuries and eligibility problems, is the smallest squad in his seven-year tenure as coach at Tyrone.
“We have a very good relationship with the rest of the schools in the league,” said Rev. Fitzgerald. “This is an extremely tough league. With Altoona, State College and Hollidaysburg, you have three of the top teams in the central part of the state. We are more competitive against the other teams. We gage our season by how well we do against Central Mountain, Bishop Guilfoyle and Huntingdon. We look forward to the districts where we can play schools our own size. I greatly appreciate the support we get from the Tyrone Area School District and the Athletic Office over the course of the years I have coached here.”
Coach Fitzgerald was extremely pleased on Monday, when two of the Altoona parents called him over to the side following the match
This is the 29th season for the Central Counties Girls Tennis League. Each of the seven teams play each other twice, home and home for a total of 12 matches. League matches are Mondays and Wednesdays and each team has two byes over the course of the season.
The team with the best won-lost record receives the coveted championship plaque. One Most Outstanding Player is voted upon by league coaches.
Fifteen of the 29 championships have been won by State College, 12 by Altoona and three by Hollidaysburg, including the Lady Tigers Co-Championship with Altoona last year.
Tyrone returns to the court on Wednesday afternoon hosting Central mountain at the Clay Avenue courts.
