SHARON — Sandwiched in between wins over McDowell and Bradford this week, Warren’s girls tennis team earned a second-place finish at the Tri-County Tournament on Wednesday at Buhl Park.

“This was the first time we have been to the Tri-County Tournament since 2019 as the previous two years were canceled due to COVID,” said Warren coach Thomas Pellegrino. “This is always a fun tournament as it includes the entire team with multiple events in which all of our JV players get a chance to compete in varsity matches and get some points for the team.

“The day started off with the third doubles event,” said Pellegrino. “We had multiple pairs entered into this draw with the teams of Sarah Harvey/Grace Carlson, Winnie Wolf/Maddy McDunn, and Ashley Plank/Ella Card all supplying wins for the team. Anna Courson/Jahzara Hunter, Lily Seyler, and Peyton Morrison/Hannah Pearson also participated in this draw.”

At second doubles, “Madalynn Perry and Sydnie Cochran had a great showing, making it all the way to the finals,” said Pellegrino.

The first round saw them take out Erie High, 8-1, and, in the semis, they pulled out an epic comeback from 1-6 down to win 8-7 (9-7) over a Hickory team. In the final, they met Cathedral Prep, losing 10-5.

At first doubles, Izzy Heacox and Kaelin Hatfield defeated Wilmington, 8-2, in the first round before falling to the eventual champions from Prep in the semifinals.

“They played a great semifinal and were even up 7-5, but Prep stepped up at the right moments and wouldn’t give us much coming back and taking the semi, 9-7,” said Pellegrino.

At No. 4 singles, Natasha Ferry started with an 8-2 win over Grove City followed by a solid semifinal performance, defeating Hickory, 8-1. In the final, Ferry got put up against the one seed from Prep, falling 4-10.

At third singles, Lucy Harrison defeated Hickory, 8-2, in her first-round match up followed by another 8-2 win in the semifinal match against Grove City. In the final, Harrison was paired up against Cathedral Prep, losing a hard-fought 7-10 match.

Grace Carr won her first-round match 8-1 over Franklin. The upset of the day came in her next match in which she defeated third-seeded Hickory, 8-5. In the semifinal, Carr lost 3-8 to a Grove City seed.

At No. 1, Iris Kiehl defeated Greenville 8-0, in round one before falling to third-seeded Wilmington, 8-2, in the second round.

“All in all, this was a great tournament and we are extremely happy with the results,” said Pellegrino. “With all of our semifinals and finals appearances, we were able to gather enough points for the team to get second place overall out of 10 teams in the district. After a discussion with Jeff Bartsch, we learned this was actually the furthest any Warren girls team has ever made it in this tournament. We are very proud of how are girls stepped up, and believe we are only getting better going into districts.”