Quaker Valley tennis great to hold court at hall of fame induction

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, October 6, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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This year’s fall season is a special time for 2013 Quaker Valley graduate Spencer Caravaggio Granger, who will be inducted into the QV Sports Hall of Fame later this month.

“I now live in the North Shore of Chicago in Libertyville, Illinois, with my husband, Mitch. We are expecting a baby girl this November,” Caravaggio said. “I’m extremely honored to be selected as a member of the QV HOF.”

Caravaggio is being honored for her tennis talent.

She competed at QV from 2009-2012 and established herself as one of the best players in program history.

She amassed the most wins (119) in team history, was a four-time Midwestern Athletic Conference singles champion, two-time WPIAL gold medalist and a two-time PIAA silver medalist.

Caravaggio also led Quakers to WPIAL team titles in 2010 and 2012 and a second-place finish at the 2009 PIAA Class AA team tournament.

“My senior year, I was lucky enough to walk Mr. Jerry Veshio onto the field during his HOF weekend,” Caravaggio said. “I remember wondering what that must’ve been like for him and how cool it would be if I would be able to be in his shoes one day.

“When I found out I was being inducted, my reaction was, ‘Wow, now I’ll get to know that feeling.’ What a blessing and an honor.”

Caravaggio was coached by Jeff Sebastian at QV, whose current coach, Christi Hays, was an assistant back then.

“Going into my senior year, I begged coach Sebastian to come back for just one more year,” Caravaggio said. “There was no one else I wanted to finish my career with. We started it together and it only felt right that we finish it together.

“I think my overall favorite moments at QV were clinching both the team and singles WPIAL titles that year. Being able to help get those wins and going out on top felt like a big win for both of us.”

Caravaggio will be inducted into the HOF alongside Hays, the current tennis coach at QV.

The hall of fame weekend will take place Oct. 25-27 when four former QV athletes, one current coach and two teams will be inducted.

Along with Caravaggio and Hays, the 2024 class consists of 1992 graduate Dr. Rick Ruperto (football, basketball, track), 1982 graduate Bobby Farrington (basketball, track), 1985 graduate Willie Jordan (football, basketball), the 1968 football team and the 2002 girls track and field team.

A reception for the inductees will be held at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 25 prior to the Friday night football game at Chuck Knox Stadium. There will be a brief introduction of this year’s class between the first and second quarters.

The induction banquet will take place at 11 a.m. Oct. 27 at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.

“I started playing tennis at the Edgeworth Club when I was about 2½ with coach Hays,” Caravaggio said. “Being inducted with Christi is such an honor. She was my very first coach. She was also one of my last coaches at Quaker Valley. My senior year she was my assistant coach.

“So to be able to start my career with her and end my high school career with her is very special. I likely wouldn’t be an inductee or have the professional career I have today without her.”

Hays has led the current QV girls tennis team to back-to-back section championships.

“I could not be more pleased that Spencer (aka ‘Mayor of the Munchkins’) is finally getting her due,” Hays said. “And I am absolutely thrilled to be going in with her. It feels like our whole story has come full circle.”

Hays defined that circle:

“I first met Spencer back in 1998 when I was the head pro at the Edgeworth Club in Sewickley. She was 3 years old and taking my Munchkin clinic. It was quickly apparent she was something special both from a skill level but also with her personality — thus, the nickname. She continued to take my clinics and move up the ranks in age and ability. She always brought energy and enthusiasm to every class and always stood out.

“When I left the Edgeworth Club in 2002, Spencer was 7. When she turned 8 in 2003, she started to take her game to the next level by training year-round — at Edgeworth in the summer and Windwood, now known as PTA (Pittsburgh Tennis Academy), in the winter.”

The two hall-of-famers reconnected a decade later.

“Our paths crossed again in 2012 when Jeff Sebastian asked me to be a volunteer coach with the QV varsity girls,” Hays said. “It was Spencer’s senior year. So, it felt like our story had come full circle again.

“I am so happy and proud that her first tennis experience was a positive one, and it set her on her way. Spencer is a talent that is so rare and so fun for a coach to work with. She easily ranks as one of the best players I’ve ever worked with — right up there with players like John and Annie Houghton. It was my absolute pleasure to have been a part in Spencer’s story.”

Caravaggio currently works as a racquet professional at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Ill.

“What I enjoy most about tennis now is being able to play with my husband,” she said. “I don’t play much anymore outside of teaching, but when I do, I love being able to hit with him.

“I have moved into playing platform tennis. It’s become a passion and now career of mine that I wouldn’t have without my tennis background.”

Caravaggio’s brilliant high school career led to a scholarship at Duquesne, where she competed on the tennis courts for four years.

After college, Caravaggio began her professional career as a platform tennis player and coach.

Platform tennis is a combination of tennis and squash, played on specially constructed platforms surrounded by back and side walls of tightly strung wire netting.

The court is smaller than a tennis court, and the game is generally played in cool or cold weather. Points can be scored only when serving, and the ball can be played off the screens, making for dynamic rallies.

In 2018, Caravaggio moved to Chicago to pursue her dream of playing professionally and becoming the director of racquet sports at a premier club. Three years later, that dream came true.

At the age of 27, Caravaggio became the youngest female director of racquets in Chicagoland history.

As far as her playing career goes, Caravaggio and her platform tennis partner, Jade Curtis, were the No. 9-ranked tandem in the country last month.

Caravaggio and her husband were married a year ago and are focused on their growing family.

Tags: Quaker Valley