Warren’s Alannah Garza, left, and Lucy Harrison became the first Dragons duo to reach the District 10 doubles finals since 1999. Submitted photo

Three pairs from the Warren girls tennis team competed in the District 10 Doubles Championships this past Thursday, highlighted by a historic run to the finals by Lucy Harrison and Alannah Garza, Warren’s first girls doubles finalists since 1999.

Brady Caudill and Olivia Romanosky, entered as Warren’s No. 3 team, drew a tough opening-round matchup against the No. 3-seeded McDowell duo. Despite battling hard, they fell 8-2.

“We were really pleased with how Brady and Olivia played, they held their own against a team featuring McDowell’s top two players and competed well,” head coach Thomas Pellegrino stated.

Warren’s second pair, Grace Carlson and Sarah Harvey, won their first-round match against Erie High 8-3 advancing to the quarterfinals. There, they faced the tournament’s top seed from Fairview who would go on to win the championship and fell 8-0.

Warren’s top team of Lucy Harrison and Alannah Garza entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed, based on their strong regular season and singles performances at districts. After receiving a first-round bye, they opened their tournament with a dominant 8-1 win over DuBois. They followed it up with another 8-1 victory in the quarterfinals against a solid McDowell squad.

The semifinal matchup featured a much-anticipated clash with the No. 3 seed consisting of McDowell’s top two singles players. The match turned into one of the most thrilling contests of the season.

The opening set was tightly contested, with both teams trading games. Down 4-5 and a break, Harrison and Garza surged back, winning three straight games and breaking serve twice to close out the set 7-5.

In the second set, McDowell got off to a quick start and got a fast lead on Warren grabbing a 4-0 lead.

“This seemed to be when our girls locked in and escalated their level of play. They started playing high percentage tennis, served great, and were not afraid to take risks in the big moments,” Pellegrino said. “They won the next four games straight, bringing the set to 4-4. McDowell managed to grab the next game giving them another opportunity to serve out the set but our girls managed to break tying things up at 5-5 and putting the set back on serve. Alannah served out a great game and stayed calm under pressure pulling out game 11 after going to deuce six times within the game.”

Up 6-5 in the second set, Warren’s girls closed it out to win 7-5, 7-5 and clinch a spot in the D10 final.

“This was one of the matches of the year and we were extremely impressed with how our girls handled the pressure and stayed composed in the big moments,” Pellegrino said. “They fought back and were down in every set. To come back from 0-4 in the second was no easy feat and just shows the competitive drive and will to win these two have. Lucy served big all day and Alannah was a force to be reckoned with at the net. What a great performance from these two.”

In the finals, Harrison and Garza took on the top seed from Fairview, consisting of D10 runnerup Vivian Liu and D10 semifinalist Mackenzee Jewell falling 6-0, 6-3.

“This is a strong Fairview pair and Vivian plays at a very high level constantly keeping our girls on the backfoot. We managed to grab a 3-0 lead in the second as our girls capitalized on some Fairview errors and big winners but we seemed to run out of gas with Fairview clinching the next six games,” Pellegrino said. “Overall we could have not asked for a better day from Lucy and Alannah. I am so proud of what these girls accomplished today and the season they have had.”

This was Warren’s first doubles finalists since Erin Bartsch and Allison Atwood in 1999.

This now brings the Dragons tennis season to a close with a 10-6 overall team record, Tri-County team championship, D10 singles semifinalist in Harrison, and a D10 doubles finalist pair of Harrison and Garza.

“Lucy and Alannah are the most talented 1-2 combo Warren has had in 26 years, and I can’t think of a more deserving duo to make a run like this,” Pellegrino said. “We went into this season not knowing what to expect. We graduated a lot of talented players over the last couple years and had big goals to pull off another double digit season and make some runs at Districts. Our girls stepped up all season long and had a season to be proud of. This now marks the dragons fourth consecutive winning season.”