That's why Upper St. Clair senior Jessie Jones got to the point when speaking to freshman Shayna Miller before their WPIAL tennis final on Tuesday.
'Jesse told me she had won two silver medals before, and this time she really wanted gold,' Miller said.
'So, I said, 'OK, I'm right there with you.'
Jones certainly got her message across.
The Upper St. Clair duo defeated North Allegheny's Kim Whelan and Christie D'Achille, 6-2, 6-2, to win the WPIAL Class AAA girls doubles championship at North Park Tennis Court.
In the Class AAA consolation match, Ashley Michaux and Heather Webb of Penn-Trafford defeated Mt. Lebanon's Michelle Santoro and Amy Schmidt, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
In Class AA, Rochester's Jackie Anthony and Trisha Camp defeated Kristina Cenkner and Mindy Hall from Mt. Pleasant, 7-5, 6-2. In the Class AA consolation, Natalie Castagnero and Megan Hyland of Ellis School defeated Winchester-Thurston's Shannon Benic and Emily Goldblum, 6-0, 6-2. The top three teams in each class advance to the PIAA doubles championships Nov. 2-3 in Hershey.
'It wasn't easy,' Miller said. 'I'm so excited. I think we hit the ball hard. We said we weren't going to lose. We weren't going to get this far and not win.'
| Class AA Champs |
| Jackie Anthony had pain in her ribs and trouble breathing Monday and spent several hours at Beaver County Medical Center later that night. The Rochester junior refused to let an evening in the emergency room stop her from going for the gold. Anthony, who was treated for bronchitis and given antibiotics, paired with Trisha Camp to defeat Kristina Cenkner and Mindy Hall of Mt. Pleasant, 7-5, 6-2, to win the WPIAL Class AA doubles championship at North Park Tennis Courts. 'It was really cold when we played in the semifinal on Monday night,' Anthony said. 'I couldn't breathe too well, so I went to the hospital. I felt better before the match.' She really felt good when she was presented the gold medal. Anthony and Camp took a 5-1 lead in the first set, but allowed the Mt. Pleasant duo to come back and tie the score, 5-5. 'We lost a little of our concentration,' Camp said. 'But we pulled together to win. It's pretty neat. So many of our teams have won WPIAL championships in football, it will be nice to go to school and let them know we won a WPIAL championship.' By JoAnne Klimovich Harrop |
'Finally, after three years trying, I won,' Jones said. 'I told Shayna the fact I had lost gave me more motivation to win this year.'
Jones lost in last year's WPIAL singles final to eventual champion Karissa Walker of Greater Latrobe. The season prior, Jones and Lucia DeSimone lost in the doubles final to Kylie Corsi and Tara McHugh of Hempfield. Jones and DeSimone withdrew in the third set because Jones had suffered a leg injury.
'My leg is fine,' Jones said yesterday as she clutched her gold medal. 'I think the fact that I had to withdraw made me want it even more this time. I was so close and missed before. I wasn't going to let that happen this year.'
With the way Jones and Miller played, not many teams could have beat them. Upper St. Clair interim coach Christine DiNardo said Jones and Miller had a great warm up, and that carried over into the match. DiNardo is taking over for Marcy Bruce, who is on maternity leave.
'They took care of business,' said DiNardo, a 1990 Moon Area graduate who won two WPIAL singles titles and a PIAA championship. 'They attacked and played aggressively. They knew they could win. They were serious the minute they stepped on the court.'
Whelan echoed those words when she said the Upper St. Clair pair was on its game yesterday. Jones and Miller didn't make many mistakes. They forced Whelan and D'Achille to take errant shots.
'They were a little bit better than us,' D'Achille said. 'They also were more experienced than us but we are still happy to be going to states.'
