Moon Area motivated for rematch
It’s never easy to start the season against the defending state champions, but Moon Area girls tennis coach Nick Wilson welcomed the opportunity to start its 2012 section schedule against 2011 WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA champion Peters Township.
“That’s who I’d want to open against,” Wilson said. “It’s a match that can show our girls what to strive for. I think that you always improve more when you play somebody better than you than when you play somebody lesser.”
Peters Township cruised to a 5-0 win, but the Tigers rebounded to win their next three matches. Expectations are high for a team with three, three-time letter-winners in the starting lineup, including the top two singles players — Brenna Fellows and Casey Cupelli.
“I like the team we have,” Wilson said. “I’d like to make the playoffs and finish second in the section. That way, it wouldn’t be like a few years ago when we made the playoffs but were seeded 15th or 16th and had no chance in our first-round playoff match.”
After qualifying for the WPIAL tournament in 2010, the Tigers sat at home during last year’s team tournament because of a technicality. The Tigers’ 10 section wins were enough to qualify for the 2011 postseason, however, the team had an illegal doubles lineup in a few matches.
The WPIAL has a rule that teams have to rank their players, and the combined ranking total for a team’s No. 1 doubles tandem has to be lower than it’s No. 2 doubles duo. Moon’s two doubles teams had the same combined total in two matches, forcing the school to forfeit those matches and dropping the Tigers out of the playoffs.
“I felt terrible because the girls worked so hard,” Wilson said. “It was an error on a rule that I didn’t know existed. But I think it has motivated the girls, especially the seniors. They made the tournament as sophomores and then didn’t as juniors, so they want to show what they can do this year.”
Fellows has taken a leap forward in her senior year, surpassing Cupelli, last year’s No. 1 singles player, for the top spot on this year’s team.
Wilson said it was never a question of talent for Fellows, but becoming more consistent.
“She’s always had all the shots,” Wilson said. “Not much has changed in her skill set over the years. She’s just more consistent now.”
Cupelli is now the No. 2 singles player and junior Nikki Bojanovic has emerged as the team’s starter at No. 3 singles. Bojanovic has only been playing tennis since her freshman year, and Wilson said she might be the most talented player on the team.
In fact, he said that when she’s at the top of her game, she is the team’s top player.
“Her ‘on game’ is the best ‘on game’ on the team,” Wilson said. “But when she’s off, it’s ugly.”
The other three-time letter-winner in addition to Fellows and Cupelli is senior Audrey Magnelli, whom Wilson calls the best doubles player he has ever coached. She pairs with freshman Erika Fernau to form the team’s No. 1 doubles tandem.
The No. 2 doubles lineup spot has been rotated in the early part of the season, with the pairs of Rachael Letterman/Abby Eberts, Priyanka Kolli/Lexi Ciccone and Bianca Bisegna/Olivia Napoleone all getting time in the spot.
Wilson said he would like to determine a go-to team to slot in the No. 2 doubles position this week, just in time for Moon’s next opportunity to measure itself against the best — next Wednesday in a rematch at Peters Township.