Quaker Valley’s Avery Allan takes pride in run to WPIAL finals

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, September 28, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Quaker Valley’s Avery Allan was awarded the No. 2 seed in Class 2A for the WPIAL girls tennis singles tournament.

And the QV sophomore ended up second as top seed Gabrielle Dusi of Belle Vernon earned a marathon 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory in the finals Sept. 18 at North Allegheny.

“I am proud of myself for my WPIAL performance, and I think it was super special to make a run and qualify for states,” Allan said. “And I am super excited for the next couple of weeks teamwise because I think we have a shot to go pretty deep into the playoffs.”

Christi Hays, QV’s hall-of-fame coach, had a spirited conversation with Allan prior to the championship match.

“I told Avery I thought the match would come down to two things,” Hays said. “The first was her belief. I asked her if she believed she could beat her friend and training partner; she answered with an enthusiastic yes.

“The second thing I reminded her was she wasn’t playing her friend Gabi; she was playing the No. 1 seed Dusi. There is the famous line in ‘The Godfather’ movie that applied here: ‘It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.’”

In other words, Allan needed to keep focused on each game.

“And focus is one of Avery’s strengths,” Hays said, “as is her commitment to every shot and her intention. She has penetrating ground strokes on both sides. Even at 5-foot-1, Avery has a good serve. She has a plan for every ball. Avery also moves well; she is very comfortable at the net or baseline.”

Dusi battled an abdominal injury that forced her to bow out of the section singles finals. She was forced to fight through the painful injury to her left abdominal area in the third set but was able to prevail.

Dusi said she was not going to stop playing in her quest for a third consecutive WPIAL girls singles title.

“It was super hard,” she said. “I ran around a lot, trying to stay away from my backhand. In the third set, I went to my underhand serve.”

Dusi said she is grateful to be a three-time champion.

“Having a tough match made it even better,” said the BV senior, the 2024 PIAA Class 2A runner-up.

With the gutsy win, Dusi joined a short list of players who have won three district singles titles in girls tennis.

“At a high level, winning or losing a match often boils down to two or three points at crucial times,” Hays said. “It has been determined that even top pros only win 53% of points in winning matches.

“And winning also means managing and maintaining momentum. But momentum can be a slippery slope in the best of circumstances. In the finals it was especially challenging to maintain concentration and momentum during Dusi’s two medical timeouts. But Avery kept her composure with so much going on and competed right to the end. She played the two-time state champion point for point.”

Allan, 15, breezed through the earlier rounds of the tournament, defeating No. 15 Melody Marsh, a junior at Derry, and No. 10 Allegra Scaringi, a sophomore at Ellis School, by 10-1 scores, and No. 3 Mollie Sclichter, an Oakland Catholic junior, 6-2, 6-3, in the semifinal round.

“I am exceedingly proud of how Avery performed not only in the finals but in the tournament,” Hays said. “The WPIAL final was undoubtedly the biggest stage she had been on. She has tournament experience but nothing of this magnitude. Yes, she played in the WPIAL and PIAA tournaments last year but as a doubles partner with Kirsten Close. The ladies brought home a PIAA silver medal. But singles is a different challenge. In singles, a player is on an island. She has to be her own cheerleader and on-court coach.

“And Avery went in as the No. 2 seed in a loaded draw. The depth of talent was impressive; there were no easy matches. It would have been tempting to look ahead to the anticipated showdown with Gabi Dusi, but there were other hungry players looking to achieve the same thing.”

After a first-round bye, Dusi blanked No. 8 Madalyn Arrow, a Neshannock sophomore, 10-0, in the quarterfinals and No. 13 Veronica Zinaski, a freshman at Winchester Thurston, 6-0, 6-2, in the semifinal round.

As QV’s hall-of-fame coach noted, Allan did not compete in the district singles championships last season. Instead, Allan and then-senior and good friend Kirsten Close participated in the Class 2A doubles tournament.

The QV tandem won the section doubles title as well as the WPIAL Class 2A championship to qualify for the PIAA tournament. Close and Allan finished as silver medalists in the state playoffs.

Close currently is continuing her career at Haverford College, located just outside Philadelphia.

Despite her diminutive stature, Allan is known as “Big Dog” on the QV tennis team. She has an all-court, attacking game that translates well at No. 1 singles. And she is a high-grade technician during her matches.

“Avery has so many strengths,” Hays said. “Technically, she is so sound — on both groundstroke sides — but also very capable at the net. What I also appreciate is Avery’s commitment to every shot. She makes her opponent work really hard for every point. And Avery is a winner; she really doesn’t like to lose.

“My expectation is for her to continue her stellar play and lead our team into the WPIAL team tourney as a high seed, hopefully. Basically, how Avery goes will be how the QV team — the ‘Dog Pound’ — goes.”

QV defeated Hopewell, 5-0, on Sept. 22 to clinch its third section title in a row. The Quakers improved to 6-0 in Section 5-2A and 8-1 overall with the only loss coming against Class 3A North Hills.

“I think our team has been fantastic this year, and I’m proud of how everyone has played,” Allan said. “My season has been going good so far. I’ve played many amazing players like (Sewickley Academy’s) Lucy Taylor and Gabrielle Dusi; everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.

“The Quaker Valley-Sewickley Academy rivalry is really just some healthy competition between the two teams. Everyone is very friendly towards each other on and off the court.”

QV was followed in the section by Sewickley Academy (5-1), Keystone Oaks (3-2), Aquinas Academy (3-2), Ambridge (2-4), Carlynton (1-5) and Hopewell (0-6).

“We will count heavily on Avery to lead the team into the WPIAL tournament,” Hays said, “and then hopefully beyond.”

The Quakers edged Sewickley, 3-2, this season and blanked all other section opponents by 5-0 scores.

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