Spring-Ford girls tennis caps unbeaten PAC season to claim 3rd straight league title

UPPER PROVIDENCE >> It added another encore event to its encore 2021 season.

Spring-Ford scored a “threepeat” of Pioneer Athletic Conference girls tennis championships Thursday with a 7-0 sweep of Pope John Paul II. It had compiled unbeaten league records in 2019 (11-0) and 2020 (8-0), starting off a postseason run that saw the Rams win District 1-AAA and PIAA team titles.

“Around the league, the PAC championship is one of the most desired achievements,” head coach Todd Reagan said. “It took us a long time to win one — the first time we did was in 2016 — and I told the girls to enjoy being part of a history-making program.”

As was the case during the season, Spring-Ford (11-0, 15-0) won handily against the Golden Panthers. It dropped only four games throughout the lineup, all in doubles play.

For the season to date, the Rams scored 7-0 victories in all but one PAC match. That was a 6-1 duel with Methacton, one where Reagan noted the final score didn’t portray the actual way the match went.

“It was a close match,” he said. “There were a lot of close individual matches which we were able to pull out. Methacton is a quality district team.”

The latest title finish came less than a week after Spring-Ford’s top player, sophomore Mia Matriccino, repeated as the PAC’s singles champion. Matriccino will go into the District 1-AAA singles tournament as the third of eight seeds from a 28-player bracket.

Matriccino joined with Isabel Mejia and Cady Krause to give the Rams a solid singles ladder. In doubles, newcomers Kate Klein and Brooke McPike stepped up at third doubles to fill half of the vacancies created with the graduation of four team members from the Class of 2021.

“They had a lot of success last year,” Reagan said of his singles players. “They continually worked on their games in the offseason. They’re looking at great things to come.”

Spring-Ford will have one more regular-season match against Conestoga Oct. 5. It will then wait to see where it’s positioned in the District 1 Team Tournament bracket.