Warren’s Lucy Harrison competes at the District 10 tennis championships. Submitted Photo

On Saturday, the Warren Lady Dragons tennis team brought four girls to represent the team at the District 10 singles competition.

The singles players were Lucy Harrison, Alannah Garza, Sarah Harvey, and Grace Carlson. Each team entered four singles players and consisted of all AAA schools from District 10, District 9, and District 8. The teams were: Warren, Fairview, McDowell, Erie High, Dubois, and Taylor Allderdice.

Grace Carlson from Warren fell in the opening round to Sophia Johnson of McDowell 3-8.

Sarah Harvey of Warren was defeated in the opening round by Shelby Britton of Erie High losing 4-8.

Alannah Garza of Warren won her opening round by defeating Ava Kachansky of Erie High 8-1. In the round of 16, she met up with the 5 seed Mackenzee Jewel of Fairview falling 2-8.

Head coach Thomas Pellegrino commented, “There is no easy match in the AAA draw and I thought our girls competed and represented Warren well today.”

Lucy Harrison of Warren started the day by receiving the 3 seed in the tournament giving her a bye in the opening round. In the round of 16, Lucy was matched up against Kali Taylor of McDowell defeating Taylor 8-3. In the quarterfinal round Lucy took on the 6 seed from Fairview Emiko Munekata and pulled out another 8-3 victory, setting herself up for another District 10 singles semi final appearance.

In the semi finals, Harrison took on top seed and powerhouse Grace Liu from Fairview falling 6-0, 6-0.

Pellegrino added, “I could not be more proud of Lucy and what she accomplished today and in her singles career for us over the last 4 years. She has been the fiercest competitor I have ever coached and put in the work year after year. The girls had homecoming Saturday and match play didn’t start until about 1pm. I asked Lucy towards the beginning about it and she said ‘Yeah I don’t plan on making it this year cause I’m making that semi final’. The semi-finals didn’t begin until 6:30 p.m. She did not make her senior homecoming, but she finished as one of the top 4 girls across 3 districts. For a girl that just picked up a racquet for the first time at 14, that’s something to be proud of.”

“This was a great day of tennis from Lucy and closes out an amazing 4 year singles career for the Dragons. She has been a force to be reckoned with at the district tournament every year and finishes as a 2-time quarterfinalist in AA her freshman/sophomore year, and a 2 time semi-finalist in AAA her junior and senior year. Lucy is without a doubt the most accomplished player to come out of the girls dragon’s tennis program in 25 years. Bolstering a 17-5 singles record at the top singles position this year and currently holding over 60 wins overall makes her the winningest player since the PIAA changed the format for team tennis in 2000. In the old format, players were allowed to play both singles and doubles within the same match, and could potentially grab 2 wins a match. We are extremely proud of everything Lucy has accomplished in her singles career and excited to see what she and the rest of the girls can do in doubles this Thursday,” Pellegrino concluded.

The Dragons will travel to Erie on Thursday to close out the season at the District 10 doubles event at the Westwood Racquet Club. Harrison/Garza aim to get a top 4 seed.

The District 10 singles championships will conclude Monday afternoon as the top-seeded Liu sisters will match up against each other for the D-10 crown.