Hampton girls tennis ready to be ‘road warriors’

By: John Grupp
Saturday, August 17, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Coming off the best season in program history, the Hampton girls tennis team has suddenly found itself homeless.

Continued delays to a renovation project at the tennis courts at Hampton Community Park have forced the Talbots to plan for a promising 2024 season in which every match and practice will likely be away from home.

“We have to be road warriors,” coach Grant McKinney said, “and we’re just going to make the most of it.”

McKinney, in his 17th season, said the courts could be completed by early October — resurfacing was scheduled to begin in late July — but added, “It’s going to be a while.” The WPIAL team playoffs start Oct. 7.

In the meantime, the Talbots will hold after-school practices at North Allegheny, Shaler or North Park, while traveling to every regular-season match on their schedule.

McKinney said there was an option to host “home” matches at North Allegheny, but with an unappealing 5:30 p.m. starting time. High school matches typically start at 3:30 p.m.

“You tell me, what school is going to want to come to North Allegheny at 5:30 p.m. when they could just host us at a normal time,” McKinney said. “I feel badly saying, ‘Hey, we want home-field advantage,’ when it’s not even our home field and we have to travel there.”

The disruption comes after a ‘23 season in which the Talbots (11-7) reached the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs for the first time in a decade and qualified for the PIAA playoffs for the first time in program history.

Senior Grace Stitt, one of the top singles players in the WPIAL Class 2A, said the situation is “definitely a bummer,” but she isn’t going to use that as an excuse.

“It’s my senior year, so I’m not going to focus on the tough parts of the season,” she said. “I’m just going to push and control what I can control and trust that it will all work out the way it should.”

Expectations are high this season. Stitt, who last season became Hampton’s first section singles champion since ‘05 and reached the WPIAL semifinals, is joined by a pair of returning starters — senior Abigail Anderson at singles and junior McKenna Restori at doubles.

Also providing optimism are senior MacKenzie McGinnis, a North Catholic transfer, promising freshman Arianna Barbera, along with seniors Ellery Robertson and Madison Holleran, junior McKenzie Jones and freshman Lolo Pikalo.

“There are some strong freshmen,” said Anderson, who is penciled in at No. 2 singles. “I feel pretty confident.”

The Talbots have come a long way from an 0-11 season four years ago in Class 3A. McKinney held summer clinics and said participation was between 80-100%. Stitt, striving to become only the second Hampton girl to reach the PIAA singles championships, won an indoor USTA event at LakeVue Athletic Club this past spring, and 22 girls tried out for the team.

McKinney said being displaced for the entire season doesn’t change the team’s goals.

“Our expectation is to go out and compete because they are talented,” he said. “If you are talented and you’ve worked hard, go out and compete and generally that hard work is going to pay off.”

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