Last Thursday, Mount St. Joseph Academy clinched its 11th consecutive tennis championship in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies, defeating Gwynedd Mercy Academy 4-1. Although the Magic still had one league match left to play, after their win on Thursday, they could no longer be caught by any of their rivals.

The AACA championship goes to the team that puts up the best record in the annual double round of league matches, and the recent Gwynedd win gave the Mounties a 9-0 mark. The second-place team, Villa Joseph Marie, already lost twice to Mount St. Joe’s. The Magic’s lone remaining match in the league pits them against Villa Maria, which lost to the Mount by 0-5 in their first encounter.

Mount St. Joseph victories outside of the league include a win over North Penn High School, which enrolls 3,200 students in grades 10-12. The Magic’s only loss was a 2-3 setback at Germantown Friends on Sept. 2.

This fall, there’s been a coaching change for the Mount’s players. Former head coach Joy Grafenstine has moved on after guiding the Magic to the AACA championship in each of her 10 seasons. In 2022, the team shared the title with Gwynedd Mercy.

The school’s new head coach, Tom Kane, has coached the sport at many levels. In addition to mentoring the Mount, he is currently coaching at his alma mater, Father Judge High School. Kate Burton is the new assistant coach for the Magic.

This fall, Mount St. Joseph has been playing home matches on the courts of La Salle College High School. At the Mount, construction is underway on a new gymnasium that will open in 2026, and since the new building will go up where the Magic’s existing tennis courts are located, the courts will be relocated.

When playing Catholic Academies matches, the Mounties follow the league’s official three-singles, two-doubles format. When playing against other Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) schools, the Mount adds the required third and fourth doubles tandems. Here, the Magic has senior Gabrielle McCall and junior Olivia Mele in the third doubles flight, while the three-player rotation for fourth doubles consists of junior Claire Furletti and sophomores Iris Burton-Sampson and Ava Franzen.

McCall is a team captain this year, along with senior first singles player Natalie Reynolds. In her match on Thursday, which featured a number of long points, Reynolds defeated Gwynedd’s Riley Lin, 6-2, 6-4.

The following day at the AACA singles tournament, the Mount would win the league championship for the top flight.

In the contest at second singles in the Gwynedd match, Mount St. Joseph senior Paige Mattle made short work of the Monarchs’ Paige Herzog, winning 6-2, 6-0. Gwynedd avoided an overall match sweep by the Mount thanks to Maria Stefkovic’s 6-4, 6-4 victory at third singles over Magic senior Savana Paris.

At first, in doubles for Mount St. Joseph, senior Maeve Kelly was paired with sophomore Maddie Koop. They dispatched Marissa Braccia and Lexi Waters of the Monarchs, 6-0, 6-2. In the second flight, Magic juniors Avery McNiven and Lilly McGann overcame Gwynedd’s Irene Masucci and Maddy Lorenzo, 6-3, 6-2.