Evelyn Mejia was ‘crying of joy’ but not at the time you might expect.
It wasn’t at the finish line of a monumental victory. Instead, the Spring-Ford senior’s moment of glee came at the starting line.
“I was screaming and jumping, I couldn’t believe it,” Mejia said. “Mia posed the idea of not doing singles and doing doubles; I was like, ‘Mia, are you serious?’”
The possibility of Mejia joining forces with teammate Mia Matriccino in doubles for the postseason became an opportunity when a college recruiting visit to Loyola (Md.), where she would later commit, was slated for Matriccino the weekend of the Pioneer Athletic Conference singles tournament. It led the three-time PAC singles champion to sit out the singles postseason.
But when one door closes, another opens, in this case a chance to compete in the PIAA doubles postseason, which follows a different postseason schedule.
Fortunately for Matriccino, she had an especially eager teammate in Mejia ready and willing.
“I was like, ‘this is the greatest opportunity right now, this is absolutely insane,’” Mejia said. “When she finally said that she can do doubles, I was screaming and probably crying of joy, I don’t even know.”
“Playing with a teammate is great, but playing with Mia is so much better. Mia’s not just a great player, she’s also my best friend. We’ve gotten so much closer because of the tennis season so it was definitely the cherry on top.”
Playing together in their senior seasons may have felt like a cherry on top of their successful high school careers that already featured a PIAA team title as freshmen and three consecutive trips to Hershey.
But the true cherry on top was capping their careers winning a state championship together after they won the PIAA Class 3A doubles tournament on Nov. 5.
“It was poetic, and it was a really good feeling having that team win,” Matriccino said. “It would have been good, too, if it was just me in singles winning, but with a partner like Evelyn, it’s a victory being able to win together.”
Matriccino and Mejia’s magical finish made them a natural fit as Mercury All-Area Girls Tennis Players of the Year. They’re the second straight pairing to achieve the accolade, following 2022 recipients Methacton’s Alice Liang and Hana Nouaime, who also won the state doubles title.
It’s Matriccino’s third time with the award after being selected individually in 2020 and 2021, capping her high school career as one of the best in Pioneer Athletic Conference history. Her resume includes three PAC singles championships, a PAC doubles title, a PIAA singles semifinal appearance (2022) and state championships as a team (2020) and in doubles (2023).
Matriccino goes down as the winningest player in Spring-Ford history. She was 14-0 in singles as a senior and was a career 70-1 in team matches.
Mejia, who placed third in the PAC singles tournament this fall, isn’t far behind. She’s third all-time with a 65-9 career record in team matches.
Together they led Spring-Ford to a fifth straight PAC team title this fall.
They make a well-balanced pair, the right-handed Matriccino a kind, contemplative personality while the left-handed Mejia is a jovial, gregarious presence at every turn.
Their tennis journeys are disparate too: Matriccino is very active on the junior circuit and commits innumerable hours to her training, even traveling to Edison, N.J., to train multiple times per week.
“I’ve always loved the tournaments,” Matriccino said. ‘They’re very stressful, but I love the competition. It’s just so fun to me. The tournaments can be a lot sometimes, but the feeling of success in a tournament is something that is just so enjoyable to me. I just love that.”
Mejia has tennis in her blood – dad Marc played at La Salle University in the mid-1990s and older sister Isabel was a past PAC doubles champion – but she grew disillusioned with the isolating, hyper-competitive nature of junior tournament play.
‘It felt like a burden, like I had to do it and that took the fun of tennis away,” Mejia said. “Tennis is a lifelong sport and it’s fun. Making tennis like a job was not something that I wanted to do so as I got older I understood it was a way to just get outside and have fun. I find a lot of peace in just hitting. It sounds weird, but if you’re by yourself just with your own mind hitting, that can be so peaceful.”
Individually and collectively, they’ve always held appreciation for the atmosphere and support of a team in the high school tennis experience.
“I think the team aspect and having so many people behind you, that makes it so different,” Matriccino said. “With regular tournaments, you’re by yourself. Yeah, sure, you have a couple friends, but a lot of the “friends” are just people you see at tournaments.
“The high school atmosphere is more positive I think, in a way where the team is behind you; there’s some conflict, too, because there’s another team rooting against you. The whole feeling is almost less pressure, and more support behind you, so you don’t feel like you’re alone.”
After competing as Nos. 1 and 2 in singles for the Rams, their first match as a doubles pairing came in the PAC doubles tournament on Oct. 5. Soon after they were PAC champions, defeating Chloe Moore and Alexis Luo in an all-Spring-Ford final.
It wasn’t all roses and rainbows in district play. Matriccino and Mejia advanced to the semifinals to ensure a place in the state tournament, but were dropped by the Council Rock South pairing of sophomore Michelle Lerman and junior Anya Zubenko in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-3.
Reaching states was a major source of motivation for the duo after missing a trip to Hershey as a team for the first time of their scholastic careers.
“That was the first time for us seniors not making it to states as a team. We had done so every other year and I think for me and Evelyn, we knew we were gonna do doubles and we wanted to elongate the season as much as possible,” Matriccino said.
“Because we didn’t get to do the team aspect as long as we had wanted to, that gave us some motivation to get through the PAC, get through the districts. My thought was just to get to states, it wasn’t even to win the whole thing. I just wanted to be there.”
Matriccino and Mejia did much better than just show up. They dominated their first three rounds in straight sets – the most games they dropped were four in a 6-3, 6-1 win over Conestoga’s Kate Emmauel and Jennifer He in the semifinals.
They stared down a rematch against Lerman and Zubenko in the final and performed in the clutch, winning 7-6 (5), 6-3, to capture the 3A doubles championship.
Apparently those tears of joy from Mejia were prescient.
