Experienced Mounties seek to reclaim tennis title

by TOM UTESCHER

Last fall Gwynedd Mercy ended a string of Catholic Academies tennis championships for Mount St. Joseph, but with their top three singles players and four other varsity veterans back for the 2005 campaign, the MSJ Magic are aiming to reclaim the title.

Guiding this effort will be new MSJ head coach Ron Mutchnik, who resides nearby in Lafayette Hill. After serving as the Principal of Enfield Elementary School for many years, Mutchnik left in 1995 and then taught for several years at Springfield Middle School before retiring in 1998.

He has coached both boys and girls tennis at Springfield High, and most recently he was the assistant boys varsity coach at Friends Central School. He had to step in as head coach in the middle of the 2004 season, and was able to lead the Phoenix to their fifth straight Friends School League championship. Bill Fleegler is back as the Mount’s assistant coach, and he’s been helping the new skipper become acquainted with the Magic court crew.

Also returning for Mount St. Joe’s are the top three players from the 2004 ladder, junior Caroline Baca and seniors Liz Pacheco and Kathleen Hubbert. Pacheco and Hubbert are team captains this year along with their classmate Katie Delaney, also a member of last year’s varsity squad.

While first doubles player Alyssa Hirst is back this year as a junior, her 2004 partner is not, so this fall she’ll be playing with her younger sister Sarah, a Mount freshman from St. Alphonsus.

Another ninth grader, Katie Mischler (from Abington Jr. High) will play the fourth singles position, as the Mount and the other Athletic Association of Catholic Academies teams make the transition from their old “three singles/two doubles” match format to the more common four/three alignment. Juniors Alila Cornileas Jordan and Megan O’Leary have joined up at second doubles, and the third doubles duo consists of sophomore Gail Walsh and freshman Allie Bono (Gwynedd Mercy Elementary). O’Leary and Walsh were both on the 2004 varsity roster.

Other players in the mix for the Magic are juniors Liz DePaul and Stephanie Robbins, sophomore Christine Torrisi, and freshmen Monica Genuardi, Kerry Maron, Katie Sullivan and Tori Wischhusen (Norwood-Fontbonne).

UPDATE: The Mount won its first two AACA bouts, defeating Nazareth Academy 5-1 on August 30 (one match was never completed due to rain) and edging Gwynedd Mercy 4-3 on September 1. Early in the Gwynedd bout the Magic picked up wins from Mischler at fourth singles and from Walsh and Bono at third doubles. Later, Hubbert won her third set at 7-5 to prevail in third singles, and Mount St. Joe clinched the team victory at second doubles, with Cornileas Johnson and O’Leary winning 6-0, 2-6, 6-4.