Unionville girls tennis team remains perfect with win vs. D-West

Downingtown >> The Unionville High School girls tennis squad, PIAA 3A state championship finalists last fall, is off to a perfect 4-0 start this season, winning each contest by a 7-0 score.
Monday afternoon, under a broiling hot sun, the Longhorns defeated host Downingtown West, winning all seven matches in straight sets.
Leading the way for Unionville Monday was junior Grace Li, the 2021 Daily Local News Girls Tennis Player of the Year. On Monday, Li won her fourth consecutive match by an identical 6-0, 6-0 score. Her match was the first to be completed Monday.
Last fall, Li finished second at both the District 1 3A singles tournament and the PIAA 3A state singles tourney, and was ranked as one of the top 70 players nationally in her age group.
“Not only does Grace have a good all-around game, but she’s a nice person who laughs easily, has a dry sense of humor and trains vigorously with the HPTA [High Performance Tennis Academy],” noted Unionville head coach Janet Johnston.
In her younger years, Li regularly played her older brother Victor, a former Longhorn standout who is now playing tennis as a rising junior at California Institute of Technology.
“When I was growing up, he was always my hitting partner,” said a smiling Li. “It’s great having an older brother who can play tennis [well] – I used to play with him every day.”
While the Longhorns have 13 seniors on their roster this fall, their top two players – Li and sophomore Sophie Zhang at second singles – are underclassmen. On Monday, Zhang improved her record to 4-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 victory. All of her four victories this season have been in straight sets.
Zhang, who was undefeated at fourth doubles last fall for the state finalist Longhorns, was asked how she dealt with the blazing heat Monday.
“I try not to think about it, because if I do I’ll start to slow down,” said Zhang. “I just take deep breaths, try to drink more water, and take my time between changeovers.”
Another Sophie, Unionville senior Sophie Walter, won her Monday match at third singles, 6-1, 6-0, to improve her record to 4-0 (all straight set wins).
Walter, who played third doubles last year for the state finalist Longhorns, is one of three Unionville senior captains – the other two are veteran doubles player Jaclyn Santaguida and Catherine Stone.
“All three of them – Sophie, Jaclyn and Catherine – have been good leaders for our team,” said Johnston.
At first doubles, the twin duo of juniors Emma and Allie Stanislawcyzk prevailed Monday, 6-1, 6-0 to improve their record to 4-0 (all straight set wins). On a different tennis court, the Unionville twins have combined to win several national paddle tennis titles.
The Longhorns won the remaining doubles matches Monday in straight sets. At second doubles, Santaguida combined with junior Milana Amoss for a 6-2, 6-0 win; at third doubles, seniors Ella Mangano and Elissa Stoop earned a 6-2, 6-2 victory; and at fourth doubles, senior Meg Harkness and junior Hilary Knipe won by a 6-0, 6-0 count.
“Hilary, Meg and Milana all were high-level junior varsity players for us last year,” said Johnston.
For the Whippets, who lost 14 varsity seniors to graduation last spring, and has only four varsity returning players this season, the loss dropped their record to 1-2.
One highlight for Downingtown West this season has been the doubles play of Gianna Brown and Katie Lagore, who won their first two matches in straight sets, prior to Monday’s match.

“Gianna and Katie were third and fourth doubles on JV last fall, but worked extremely hard in the offseason to step up to second doubles on varsity this year with a winning record so far,” said D-West head coach Justin DePietropaolo. “Our girls have put in the work in the past off-season. Our singles players played in USTA tournaments [in the off-season], and our doubles players played USTA team tennis. Unionville is a good team, and we have many more matches to play this fall.”
Unionville 7, Downingtown West 0
Singles: Grace Li (UN) def. Abby Walter (DW), 6-0, 6-0; Sophie Zhang (UN) def. Becky Dixon (DW), 6-0, 6-0; Sophie Walter (UN) def. Peyton Clark (DW), 6-1, 6-0.
Doubles: Emma Stanislawcyzk/Allie Stanislawcyzk (UN) def. Isabel Schreffler/Lauren Ayres (DW), 6-1, 6-0; Jaclyn Santaguida/Milana Amoss (UN) def. Katie Lagore/Gianna Brown (DW), 6-2, 6-0; Ella Mangano/Elissa Stoop (UN) def. Ashritha Dunaboyina/Ella Mae Markowski (DW), 6-2, 6-2; Meg Harkness/Hilary Knipe (UN) def. Avika Mundra/Campbell Calvey (DW), 6-0, 6-0.