As they looked to head into the PIAA District 1 tennis tournament, Mount St. Joseph Academy tennis players prepared by facing some tough competition on Sept. 23.

The Magic hosted a nonleague contest against the Quakers of Penn Charter, and indeed, the visitors proved to be challenging opponents. Charter swept to a 7-0 victory in the three-singles, four-doubles match format used in both the PIAA and PC’s Inter-Ac League.

Within the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies (AACA), in which matches consist of three singles and two doubles bouts, the Mount has fared well this season despite graduating nine players off of the 2025 roster.

With one AACA match remaining, they had defeated Merion Mercy Academy once, had beaten three other league members twice, and had split with Villa Joseph Marie Academy. That 8-1 record assures the Magic (9-4 overall) of at least a tie for the league championship.

Penn Charter had not yet begun Inter-Ac League competition, and in nonleague matches the Quakers defeated the Mount, Central High School (7-0) and Friends Central (5-0) while losing to Germantown Friends (0-7) and Lawrenceville School (2-5).

For the second year in a row, Mount St. Joseph is playing its home tennis matches at La Salle College High School. The courts at the Mount have been displaced from their old location by the school’s new indoor athletics building, which is set to open shortly. New tennis courts are being constructed in a different spot.

On Sept. 23, both the Mount and Penn Charter arrived at La Salle with varsity and JV players, and to have them all see playing time, each individual match consisted of a single pro set (the first player to capture eight games is the winner).

The top two singles flights were populated by seniors for both teams. At number one, PC’s Olivia Vail overcame Maddie Koop of the Magic, 8-2, while Layla Joshi of the Quakers went past Lilly McGann, 8-0. There was another 8-0 outcome at third singles, where visiting sophomore Avery Morris defeated Mount freshman Juliana Koop.

The closest score of the day came out of the first doubles flight, where MSJ junior Iris Burton-Sampson and senior Olivia Mele eventually succumbed to Penn Charter seniors Lulu Jordan and Lila Gonnella, 8-5. In the second doubles bout, junior Zara Sinu and sophomore Laila Hamilton of the Quakers took an 8-2 decision over the Magic tandem of senior Claire Furletti and junior Ava Franzen.

Penn Charter posted 8-0 victories at both third and fourth doubles. Four 11th-graders played in the third flight, with Maddie Jones and Nell Magarity of the visiting side topping the Magic’s Lola Hairston and Ryan Mullen. Charter senior Caroline Tullo and freshman Ava Devine won the number four match over sophomore Gwen Mullen and junior Quinn Forbes of Mount St. Joseph.