October 23, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount golf up, tennis down
by TOM UTESCHER

Last Wednesday, the fortunes of the golf and tennis teams at Mount St. Joseph Academy took different turns. The Magic linksters won the PIAA Eastern Regional Team Tournament and are headed back to the State Championship Tournament for a third straight year, while the MSJ racquetwomen wrapped up their 2008 campaign with a 3-2 loss to Gwynedd Mercy Academy in the semifinals of the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies.

The golf squad, two-time defending state champs, won their AACA tournament back in September and captured their third-straight District 1 title earlier this month. To make the two-day state tourney more manageable, the PIAA thins the field further by having the various district champs from the eastern and western halves of the state meet in a pair of regional playoffs.

With a four-player team score of 373, Mount St. Joe finished first by a comfortable margin in the eastern section, with Scranton Prep taking the runner-up spot with a score of 424. The one-day regional competition was held at par-72 Golden Oaks Golf Club in Fleetwood, Pa., roughly 20 minutes northwest of Pottstown. Players reported that the course was in good shape, but some of the pins were placed right at a crown on the green, so the ball could roll away in any direction.

A birdie on the par-four seventh hole helped sophomore Samm Arena make the loop in 80 strokes, while senior Carson Price shot a 92. Junior Emily Gimpel’s 96 and senior Catherine Murphy’s 104 rounded out the team tally for the Magic.

The Mounties will head out to York, Pa., this weekend in order to get in a practice round on the championship course before play begins on Monday morning. As in 2006 and 2007, the tournament venue is the Heritage Hills Golf Resort.

The MSJ tennis team earned the AACA regular-season championship with a record of 12-2, securing the top seed for the league playoffs in the process. On Tuesday afternoon, the Magic hosted a semifinal match against Gwynedd, the fourth seed for the tourney. The Monarchs had beaten the Mount, 3-2, in the league opener, but the Magic easily won the Sept.18 rematch, 5-0.

Last week, in the teams’ third meeting, seniors Katie Mischler and Allie Bono wrapped up straight-set victories at first and second singles. Mischler, the Mount number one, went by Gwynedd’s Alex Wagner, 6-1, 6-1, and Bono beat Megan Mockaitis, 6-3, 6-3. Mischler won all of her league matches this season with the exception of an early encounter with a Merion Mercy player who later left the Merion team.

Gwynedd kept pace with the Magic in the semifinals with Stephanie Cesarini winning her third-singles match over the Mount’s Sarah Hirst, 7-5, 6-3, and with the Monarchs’ first-doubles team of Bridget Dunne and Lexie Roth clinching a 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3 decision against Chrissy Stefanowicz and Catherine Baldasano of the Magic.

Maura Knowles and Marianna Barua pulled out a 7-6 (7-3) win over MSJ’s Meaghan Bricker and Bianca Pasquel in the first set of the second-doubles match, but the contest could not be completed before sunset. Play resumed on Wednesday afternoon, and the Gwynedd duo took the second set, 6-4, to move the Monarchs into the league final.