Harriton High School | Archive | October, 2016

The young Harriton girls tennis team reached the State semi-finals last year, the furthest the team had ever advanced in the AAA tournament since moving up to the top level of play in 2012.  With six starters returning to the top seven spots in 2016, the Rams looked forward to an even more outstanding season in 2016, yet the perennial powerhouse (and 7-time conference champion) Conestoga Pioneers stopped them in their tracks on September 8 by winning an early season thriller 4-3.

On court for the last match of that battle?  Harriton’s “ace,” first singles player Sophia Sassoli.

Since 2015, Harriton has been led by a fantastically talented trio of singles players: Sassoli at 1^st singles, Connie Richards at 2^nd singles, and Nina Hoog at 3^rd singles, all sophomores.  The Rams bounced back from the Conestoga loss and reeled off 9 consecutive Central League wins to earn the 3^rd seed in the District One playoffs.  After dispatching Abington 5-0 in the first round, the Rams powered through the quarterfinals (beating Downingtown West 4-1) and semifinals (beating Radnor 3-1) to face the two-time defending champion West Chester Henderson Warriors in the finals.  The Warriors went up 2-0 on the strength of their superior doubles play, but Hoog won at 3^rd singles 6-3, 6-1, and Richards followed at 2^nd singles 6-4, 6-0, leaving 1^st singles (Sassoli vs. talented senior Emma Clark) the only active match on the court.

Sassoli won the first set 6-2 but started the second set down 1-3.  She battled back to tie the match at 3-3.  Clark was tenacious and won her serve, going up 4-3, but Sassoli kicked it up a notch and won her serve to knot the match at 4-4, then broke Clark’s serve to take a 5-4 lead.  Serving for the match at 40-30, Sassoli battled in a long point until Clark’s ground stroke finally found the net, resulting in game, set, match,and Div 1 championship for the Rams!

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Since arriving on the Central League tennis scene as freshmen in 2015, Harriton’s Sophia Sassoli and Connie Richards (playing 1st and 2nd singles, respectively) have propelled the Rams to the highest level of girls’ tennis in PIAA, culminating in Harriton’s semi-final appearance at last year’s State team playoffs. Playing in their first Central League doubles tournament (Oct 14-15, 2016) as sophomores, the Harriton pair dominated the 24-team field, dropping an eye-popping total of just 7 games over 4 matches to become the 2016 Central League doubles champions.

The premier match of Richards’ and Sassoli’s Central tournament weekend was the championship against Conestoga’s 2015 defending champion duo of Maddie Wood and Ashley Griffith. Early in the season on September 8 in the sweltering heat, Griffith had beaten Sassoli in a 3-set marathon 1st singles match that turned out to be the decider in a 4-3 team victory, ensuring Conestoga (11-0 Central League) would win their 8th consecutive Central League team title over 2nd place Harriton (10-1 Central League). But on Oct 15 Sassoli and Richards were not to be denied, using a combination of power, agility, and finesse to beat the Pioneer pair 6-2, 6-1. Harriton’s 2016 doubles championship, combined with Rams’ teammate Nina Hoog’s Central League singles championship 3 weeks ago, earns the Rams both titles for the first time since Harriton moved up to the PIAA AAA level in 2012.

In the District One tournament Oct 20-21, the top-seeded Sassoli-Richards duo cruised into the semifinals with straight-sets victories over Unionville and Council Rock South.  The Rams pair then beat the Suburban One League-National Conference champs Sophia Fischer and Joanna Kwon 6-2, 7-5 to earn a rematch with Conestoga’s Griffith & Wood in the championship.  For the second time in 11 days the Harriton girls topped the Pioneer pair, this time by a score of 6-3, 7-5.  Richards and Sassoli become the first Harriton girls to be District I AAA Doubles Champions–dropping zero sets in their 8 matches played.

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