Mia Gorman remains the girls tennis section champion in 2021

Meghan Krapp, Staff Writer|September 20, 2021

Evan Manion

Mia Gorman is the 2021 WPIAL girls tennis champion. She defeated Kat Wang of Peters Township in the finals.

A year ago, Mia Gorman won the Section 4 girls tennis championship.

She did it again this year.

The championship match was held on Thursday, Sept. 16 at the BPHS tennis courts.  

With her home crowd behind her, Gorman looked across the court at her opponent, the 2018 and 2019 doubles section champion Kat Wang, a senior at Peters Township.

In the 2018 and 2019 singles section championships, Gorman placed third both times behind upperclassmen. 

This year, the two-time doubles section champion, Wang, and the returning singles section champion, Gorman, went head-to-head in the 2021 singles match.

“Before the match, I was excited because my senior year sections was at Bethel, which is convenient and just more fun,” said Gorman. “During it, in the beginning, I was a little bit nervous, but then I loosened up and got on a roll.”

After a tremendous effort from both players, Gorman took her spot as number 1 with a score of 6-4, 6-3.

Wang held a promising 4-3 lead during the first match, but Gorman stepped up her game to take that lead away.

“Kat came out swinging,” Gorman said. “I was a little flat – not hitting how I wanted to be hitting and not moving how I wanted to be moving. I had to reset myself,” she added. “I was like ‘move’ and see the ball and get the ball where you want it to go. It doesn’t have to be hit a million miles an hour.” (Eleanor Bailey, The Almanac).

Gorman lead the second set 4-1 and kept that lead until the end.

“After the match, I was excited that two years in a row, at Bethel, for my senior season, I won our section again,” Gorman said.

In 2020, Gorman won the WPIAL Class AAA singles tennis championship after placing third and fourth in her freshman and sophomore years.

In November of last year, Gorman was runner-up at the PIAA Individual Tennis Championships.

Gorman, the returning champ, will face Wang again at the WPIAL Class AAA singles tournament on Sept. 23-24 at the Bethel Park High School tennis courts.