Sewickley Academy girls tennis season featured plenty of highlights

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, October 20, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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The Sewickley Academy girls tennis team entered the WPIAL Class 2A tournament with high hopes of making a strong run as the fourth seed.

Sewickley defeated No. 13 Central Valley, 4-1, in the first round but fell to No. 5 Oakland Catholic, 3-2, in the quarterfinals.

The Panthers were led this season by senior Rayna Thakkar at No. 1 singles, senior Maria Sirianni at No. 2 and sophomore Isabele Zuluaga at No. 3.

“The team has been doing well,” coach Whitney Snyder said following the WPIAL first-round win. “It’s a relatively young team. We lost three starters — Anjali Shaw, Gwyn Belt and Abby Bojalad — from last year. The three girls who replaced them were not on the varsity last year.

“Rayna and Maria have been doing an excellent job as the team captains by bringing the younger girls along.”

The singles players were complemented by the combinations of junior Annabelle Christ and sophomore Rani Shah at first doubles, and a pair of seniors — Brooke Busatto and Skylar Nocito — at second doubles.

Two sophomores — Madelyn Capozzi and Sofia DiCicco — and junior Vanshika Jeevan rounded out the team.

The Panthers dominated play in their first-round victory at home at Nichols Courts against Central Valley.

Thakkar and Sirianni both were 6-1, 6-0 winners. Christ and Shaw captured a 6-0, 6-2 decision. Busatto and Nocito rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win.

Thakkar has been a four-year varsity competitor and has advanced to the PIAA tournament three times in team competition and once in doubles.

“It’s been a great season.” Thakkar said. “I think our team has done very well. There’s been a lot of team camaraderie and team spirit. I can walk away happy and proud (about the program).”

Sirianni, like Thakkar, started playing tennis at age 7. Sirianni has competed at the varsity level for three years and qualified twice for the PIAA playoffs in the team category.

“It’s been great (in 2024),” she said. “We lost three starters from last year, but we had a nice turnout this year. We’ve done surprisingly well.

“My older brothers (Mike and Will) played tennis (in high school) and I’ve just been trying to one-up them, I guess.”

Thakkar advanced to the Section 5-2A singles tournament as the No. 2 seed where she defeated senior Therese Bernas of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-2, in the championship round.

Thakkar was the No. 2 seed; Bernas was the top seed. Zuluago also qualified for the event as the No. 8 seed.

Zuluaga and DiCicco gained the sixth seed for the WPIAL doubles tournament while Capozzi and Jeevan were seeded eighth.

Thakkar competed at the No. 4 seed for the WPIAL singles playoffs and advanced to the quarterfinals after rolling past Lincoln Park sophomore Bella Colatriano, 10-1, in the first round.

Both Thakkar and Sirianni plan to attend college and hopefully continue their tennis careers. Thakkar wants to study biology; Sirianni will decide between business or marketing as her major.

While the two girls focus solely on tennis year-round, Busatto and Nocito are dual-sport athletes at QV. Busatto participates in lacrosse in the spring; Nocito plays basketball during the winter months.

SA’s girls tennis team finished as the Section 5-2A runner-up this fall with a 5-1 record. The Panthers were 9-4 overall.

Tags: Sewickley Academy