{"id":246090,"date":"2025-10-23T12:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T12:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/246090\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T12:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T12:52:09","slug":"north-allegheny-frustrated-after-piaa-tennis-loss-to-late-arriving-opponent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/246090\/","title":{"rendered":"North Allegheny frustrated after PIAA tennis loss to late-arriving opponent"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: John Grupp<\/a><\/p>\n

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 | 7:07 PM<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \"8977875_web1_tennisstock3\"<\/p>\n

North Allegheny\u2019s Michelle Weniger has witnessed a lot in her two decades as girls tennis coach, but nothing like this. <\/p>\n

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\u2019 No. 1 singles player was forced to wait more than two-and-a-half hours to start her match against a late-arriving opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was terrible,\u201d Weniger said. \u201cIt\u2019s uncalled for. I\u2019ve never been in that situation. It was very frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

While her tardiness was expected and approved by the PIAA, Denis didn\u2019t 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\u2019 No. 1 singles player, had to wait another hour and 10 minutes with vague updates on her match.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 season ended at 17-5.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to get crabby, but what if NA had pulled this?\u201d Weniger said. \u201cOr 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\u2019s the part that\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

NA athletic director Bob Bozzuto said Denis deserved the opportunity to compete in both events, but added \u201cwe were not told it was going to be delayed over two-and-a-half hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be better in the future,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is no sour grapes. It\u2019s intended to make the process work. Either we play on a different day or we do something totally different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise, Weniger said she was less upset about the result of the match than the lack of communication and the entire process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost the match,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not bickering about that at all. We lost the match. But the process was terrible. \u2026 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, \u2018How late is late? Ten minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour, two hours?\u2019 And there was no answer to that. They gave me a stare and a blank look in their face. That was very, very frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to PIAA rules, a team \u201cwill 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, you get penalized,\u201d Weniger said. \u201cThat 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\u2019t show up for another hour and 10 minutes. There were no repercussions. Nothing. No point penalties. No games, and I don\u2019t understand that at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019 father, Brian, is the Hollidaysburg girls tennis coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did she have to wait until (after) the awards ceremony to leave?\u201d Bozzuto said. \u201cThat impacted our kids. \u2026 We were told that the young lady was very close, and it ended up she wasn\u2019t very close. It was a very unfortunate situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Grassel, an assistant executive director with the PIAA, said the expected delay was \u201ccommunicated ahead of time\u201d to North Allegheny. She noted the same arrangements were made last year for Hollidaysburg\u2019s first-round match with Shady Side Academy, when Denis was competing in both state events.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deal with these things all the time,\u201d Grassel said. \u201cIt was a unique situation that was predetermined. It was a situation that occurred last year that nobody worried about. This wasn\u2019t a situation that was anything new or unprecedented. It was to help deal with a kid who is a very unique situation that\u2019s in both state playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf North Allegheny wins (three matches),\u201d Grassel said, \u201cwe don\u2019t even have to play that (singles) match and they are not late.\u201d<\/p>\n

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