Sarah Shashura's final shot in the Class AA Section 1 singles championship appeared to be going out, and her opponent, Mount Pleasant junior David Cenkner, had his hand up, ready to make the call.

Instead, the ball landed inside the line and Cenkner hung his head and turned to the net to congratulate Shashura, a California sophomore, on her tightly contested 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory. At one point, Cenkner held a 3-0 lead in the decisive third set.

"I just think I kind of relaxed a little too much and let her back into it," Cenkner said. "That's all it took."

Cenkner and Shashura, along with Southmoreland senior Nathan Walch — a 6-4, 6-2 winner against teammate Jeremy Niemiec in the consolation match — have qualified for the WPIAL Class AA singles championships Monday and Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

Shashura, who as a freshman independent won the WPIAL Class AA girls title in the fall of 2008, opted to forego defending her title and play in the spring for the California boys' team. She was the first tennis player in school history to win a WPIAL singles title and is attempting to become the first female to win the boys championship since Quaker Valley's Annie Houghton accomplished the feat in 2006.

In 2009, Chartiers-Houston sisters Tanya and Karli Timko became the first girls to win the WPIAL Class AA boys' doubles crown.

Shashura has learned a vital lesson about playing against boys.

"Boys tend to come to the net more so I definitely have to get used to that," Shashura said. "Maybe I'll try to come to the net more because the boys won't expect a girl to come to the net."

Being aggressive and coming off the baseline was how Cenkner made a match of it in the first place. Down a set and trailing 2-0 in the second set, he started approaching the net on almost every shot, a strategy that surprised Shashura and allowed him to get back into the match.

"I was staying back too far in the first set," Cenkner said. "She was just too good for me to stay back, so I started coming in instead of just serve-and-volleying."

By becoming more aggressive, Cenkner, the top seed and defending section champion, was able to take Shashura out of her game. Despite a 2-1 lead in the second set, she double-faulted three times in her next service game and allowed Cenkner to tie the set.

"I've worked on my serve in practice the last few weeks and I was pretty confident with it," Shashura said. "But sometimes I lose my confidence in a match and, the double faults, that's what happens."

Still, both players know this is only the first step and the WPIAL Class AA championships will provide a more serious test.

"It's a different tournament," Cenkner said. "Once you get to WPIALs, anything can happen and that's the way you have to look at it."

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)