Riverview’s Katerina Tsambis named Valley News Dispatch girls athlete of the year

By: Matthew Purucker
Saturday, June 28, 2025 | 4:41 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

In April, the Valley News Dispatch recognized Katerina Tsambis as its girls basketball player of the year. Because of her additional excellence in soccer and track and field, she has earned the Valley News Dispatch’s Girls Athlete of the Year honor.

To Tsambis, sports are not just a hobby. They have been and will continue to be a major part of her life.

“Basketball has been my favorite forever. I have played basketball and AAU for years,” Tsambis said. “I played soccer just in high school (but) we had so many good memories going to championships. Same thing with track. I just love to compete.”

Tsambis shined on the basketball court, averaging 18.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.5 steals per game in her senior season to lead Riverview to a WPIAL Class 2A playoff berth. She was dedicated to the game, encouraging her teammates and playing her hardest every day, her coach said.

“One is her reliability. You knew what you were going to get every day. And the goal of a team is to win, and it didn’t matter how the win came,” former Riverview girls basketball coach Jill Catanzaro said. “Whether she scored five points or 20 points, she didn’t have to have the spotlight. She just did it. That makes her a very humble person.”

Although her best sport was basketball, her soccer career contributed to her achievement on the hardwood.

“I was always the main defender for basketball,” Tsambis said. “The technique is similar, so, yeah, I felt those two definitely correlated together.”

The Riverview girls soccer team enjoyed great success with the athleticism of Tsambis as a defender. Despite missing her freshman season because of injury and not playing in junior high because of a conflict with basketball, Tsambis helped Riverview reach the 2023 WPIAL and PIAA finals in Class A. Individually, she also received second-team Valley News Dispatch and all-WPIAL honors.

“Every year, she got better and better and became a staple in our defense,” former Riverview girls soccer coach Sean Abraham said. “She would take charge of the defense and lead it, trying to shut down everything that she could.”

In the spring, Tsambis took her talents to the track, where she specialized in the sprints. She competed in the 100, 200 and 400 meters and was a crucial member of the Riverview 1,600-meter relay team.

During her junior year, the relay team broke the school record that had stood since 1980 with a time of 4 minutes, 12.20 seconds. Then, it broke that record this season by running a 4:03.95. The unit placed third at the WPIAL Class 2A championships and eighth at the PIAA meet this spring.

“She’ll be truly missed next year. … Her leadership has made the girls’ team the last four years a remarkable contender,” Riverview track coach Dave Ilnicki said. “I’m glad she’s being recognized because she truly deserves it.”

Tsambis was a four-year letterwinner and was on girls track teams that had a 22-8 overall record and won two undefeated section titles in 2022 and 2023.

“She is an outstanding student-athlete. She excels in the classroom as well as the field, court or track,” Ilnicki said. “Whatever surface that she is playing on, she’s super. She’s been the heart and soul of the team.”

This fall, Tsambis will be attending Penn State to pursue a degree in kinesiology, the study of human movement, turning her passion for sports into a career.

“I’m gonna miss my friends for sure. I’m gonna miss my basketball coaches. They were the best,” Tsambis said. “Specifically, coach Jill Catanzaro. I had her seventh through 12th grade, so I’m gonna miss her a lot. Also, being a competitor on a team, I’m gonna miss that.”

Tags: Riverview