PIAA golf, tennis tournaments on tap in Tuesday’s 3 things to watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, October 22, 2018 | 9:24 PM

The first day of the PIAA golf championships are in the books from the Heritage Hills Golf Resort, and a handful of district golfers in the hunt for state gold.

WPIAL Class AAA girls champion Caroline Wrigley of North Allegheny shot a 2-over par 74 and has a one-stroke lead heading into the final 18 holes of the two-day event on Tuesday.

Danae Rugula of Uniontown is in third place and trails by two strokes while Caroline McConnell of South Fayette is fourth, four strokes behind Wrigley.

Maddie Smithco of North Catholic is in second place in the Class AA girls finals, four strokes behind leader Lydia Swan of North East. Kiara Porter of Central Valley is in a three-way tie for third place at 8 over, along with Abby Zumbruno of Greensburg Central Catholic.

On the boys’ side, after finishing tied for third in the WPIAL championships, Palmer Jackson of Franklin Regional is tied for the lead in the Class AAA field after shooting a 2-over 73 on Monday. Jackson is deadlocked with Patrick Sheehan of Central Bucks East and Andrew Wallace of Harriton.

WPIAL champion Jimmy Meyers is one stroke back at 3-over while district golfers Brady Pavernik of Latrobe and Jack Wymard of Pine-Richland are tied for sixth place, three strokes off the lead.

Finally in boys’ Class AA, WPIAL champion Skyler Fox of Riverside is two strokes off the lead heading into Tuesday. Fox shot a 4-over and is two strokes behind William Mirams of Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg.

More state playoffs

While the PIAA golf championships are winding down, the state girls team tennis playoffs begin Tuesday with first-round matches.

In Class AAA, North Allegheny faces City League champion Brashear at Shady Side Academy. Speaking of which, Shady Side Academy heads east to Altoona where it will face District 6 champion Hollidaysburg, and WPIAL consolation winner Peters Township faces District 10 champion Fairview in Erie.

After winning district gold, Sewickley Academy takes on District 9 champion Saint Mary’s at Shady Side Academy in a Class AA opener. Knoch will square off against Westmont-Hilltop in Altoona, and Beaver battles District 10 winner Villa Maria Academy in Erie.

First-round matches are Tuesday, then the tournament moves to the Hershey Racquet Club this weekend for quarterfinals on Friday and semifinals and championship finals on Saturday.

WPIAL postseason lid lifters

Tuesday is opening day of the WPIAL girls volleyball playoffs in Class AAA and AA, and the semifinals in Class AAA for WPIAL field hockey.

There are five preliminary-round volleyball matches on Tuesday to begin the two-week district playoffs.

In Class AAA, Albert Gallatin takes on Ambridge with the winner facing top-seed and defending champion Knoch on Thursday.

There are four pigtail matches in Class AA with one match at Montour and a tripleheader at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Burrell faces Carlynton at Montour with the winner facing No. 2 North Catholic on Thursday.

The three matches at OLSH are Hopewell against Keystone Oaks, Ellwood City faces Beth-Center and Waynesburg goes up against Laurel.

The Hopewell/Keystone Oaks winner moves on to face Frazier, Ellwood City/Beth-Center winner takes on Serra Catholic and Waynesburg/Laurel winner battles top-seeded Freeport.

Also on Tuesday, the Class AAA field hockey semifinals take place at Peters Township. The top seeded Indians face Norwin following the Pine-Richland against North Allegheny match.

No. 2-seed Pine-Richland is the defending champion.

The winners play for district gold at Fox Chapel on Oct 29.

Don Rebel is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Don at drebel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TheDonRebel.

Tags: Albert Gallatin, Ambridge, Beaver, Beth-Center, Brashear, Burrell, Carlynton, Central Catholic, Ellwood City, Franklin Regional, Hopewell, Keystone Oaks, Knoch, Laurel, North Allegheny, Norwin, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Peters Township