By: John Grupp
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 | 7:07 PM
North Allegheny’s Michelle Weniger has witnessed a lot in her two decades as girls tennis coach, but nothing like this.
The NA Hall of Fame coach was still looking for answers one day after a 3-2 loss to Hollidaysburg on Tuesday in the PIAA Class 3A team tournament in which the Tigers’ No. 1 singles player was forced to wait more than two-and-a-half hours to start her match against a late-arriving opponent.
“It was terrible,” Weniger said. “It’s uncalled for. I’ve never been in that situation. It was very frustrating.”
Hollidaysburg junior Crosby Denis arrived late to Summit Tennis & Athletic Club in Altoona after competing in the PIAA Class 3A individual golf championships at Penn State.
While her tardiness was expected and approved by the PIAA, Denis didn’t get to the court until 6:40 p.m. The first matches began at roughly 4 p.m. at the three-court facility, and the No. 1 singles court became available at about 5:30 p.m. But NA sophomore Mia Kaufman, the Tigers’ No. 1 singles player, had to wait another hour and 10 minutes with vague updates on her match.
Finally, Denis arrived. With the other matches long finished and the score tied at 2-2, Kaufman lost 6-4, 6-2 in the deciding match as the Tigers’ season ended at 17-5.
“You don’t want to get crabby, but what if NA had pulled this?” Weniger said. “Or would this have happened in any other sport? Football, baseball? What if she was an hour and 15 minutes late for her golf tournament? What if it was reversed and she was at the tennis match? Would they have saved her a spot? That’s the part that’s frustrating.”
NA athletic director Bob Bozzuto said Denis deserved the opportunity to compete in both events, but added “we were not told it was going to be delayed over two-and-a-half hours.”
“We’ve got to be better in the future,” he said. “This is no sour grapes. It’s intended to make the process work. Either we play on a different day or we do something totally different.”
Likewise, Weniger said she was less upset about the result of the match than the lack of communication and the entire process.
“We lost the match,” she said. “I’m not bickering about that at all. We lost the match. But the process was terrible. … I was told their No. 1 girl was at a golf tournament at Penn State. It was the state golf tournament, which is wonderful. My question was, ‘How late is late? Ten minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour, two hours?’ And there was no answer to that. They gave me a stare and a blank look in their face. That was very, very frustrating.”
According to PIAA rules, a team “will be penalized one (1) game for each five (5) minutes of tardiness from the time the match is called to begin and both the court and opponent are ready.”
“Usually, you get penalized,” Weniger said. “That court was open at 5:30, ready to go. Mia was on the court, ready to go. And there was no Hollidaysburg girl in the building. She didn’t show up for another hour and 10 minutes. There were no repercussions. Nothing. No point penalties. No games, and I don’t understand that at all.”
Bozzuto said he received an email from the PIAA approving the delay and informing them Denis would be late due to her unique situation. But complications arose. The golf tournament was delayed, and then Denis, who finished fifth in the state, remained at Penn State to receive her PIAA medal, after the Class 2A boys and girls medals were handed out. According to reports, she and her mom left Penn State shortly before 6 p.m. for the 50-minute drive to Altoona. Denis’ father, Brian, is the Hollidaysburg girls tennis coach.
“Why did she have to wait until (after) the awards ceremony to leave?” Bozzuto said. “That impacted our kids. … We were told that the young lady was very close, and it ended up she wasn’t very close. It was a very unfortunate situation.”
Jennifer Grassel, an assistant executive director with the PIAA, said the expected delay was “communicated ahead of time” to North Allegheny. She noted the same arrangements were made last year for Hollidaysburg’s first-round match with Shady Side Academy, when Denis was competing in both state events.
“We deal with these things all the time,” Grassel said. “It was a unique situation that was predetermined. It was a situation that occurred last year that nobody worried about. This wasn’t a situation that was anything new or unprecedented. It was to help deal with a kid who is a very unique situation that’s in both state playoffs.”
The result of the match was also unique. North Allegheny had never lost a PIAA first-round match in 10 tries, and Hollidaysburg had never beaten a WPIAL team in the state playoffs in seven tries.
“If North Allegheny wins (three matches),” Grassel said, “we don’t even have to play that (singles) match and they are not late.”
Tags: North Allegheny