Keith Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 27, 2017
Amanda Nord, Fox Chapel tennis
The past week: Nord teamed with sophomore Charlotte James to win their second consecutive WPIAL Class 3A doubles championship with a 6-0, 6-2, victory over the No. 2 seeded Pine-Richland duo of Melissa Vizcardo and Alyssa Sarver.
Check this out: Though Nord was the No. 1 singles player for the Foxes this season and is currently ranked as the No. 4 senior in the state, she has carved out an impressive niche for herself in doubles. This also wasn’t the first time Nord and a partner have taken back-to- back titles. In her freshman and sophomore seasons, she teamed up with Laurel Shymansky to win two WPIAL and one PIAA doubles championships. With her win this year, she joined Moon alumna Kelly Deep (1983-86) as the only players ever to win four girls doubles titles. She and James are also the reigning state doubles champions and will have an opportunity to repeat at the state finals at Hershey Racquet Club Nov. 3-4.
Recruiting news: Nord has verbally committed to play at James Madison.
Did you ever think that you’d win four straight doubles titles? No and I didn’t know that someone had done it four times up until this year when I think my coach (Alex Slezak) told me. I think it was pretty cool to work hard and to try to become the kind of person that could do that.
What went through your mind when you finally won the title? I just kept thinking in my head that it’s pretty cool that only one other person has done this and I’m the only person from my school to do this. I just kept thinking that I accomplished something pretty cool.
You and Charlotte are really good friends, so how does that translate to when you’re on the court? I think it’s a huge advantage. We’re not afraid to tell each other if something’s not working and try to fix it and to improve, so I think that’s a huge benefit for us that we feel comfortable with each other to work out strategies.
What was it about JMU that made you decide to go there? I pretty much love everything about the school from the campus to the girls on the team to the coach. I just fell in love with everything about it, so I was really happy that it could work out.
When did you start playing tennis? When I was 5 years old, my grandpa put a racquet in my hand because he played and my mom played, so they just decided to put a racquet in my hand.
What made you stick it out? I guess the more I kept practicing, I started to get pretty good at it and I just fell totally in love with playing and competing and that just made me stick to it all these years.
This is your fourth trip to Hershey. What is something you have to do when you get there? I’ll just go to Chocolate World again. That’s high on the priority list as always.
What is the one must-buy? Definitely Reese’s peanut butter cups because those are my favorites.
Halloween is coming up. What will you be? I’m going to be a princess.
Any particular princess? Just a princess in general. I feel it fits my personality pretty well to be honest.
What do you want to do in real life? I don’t know. It’s not one specific thing. I was to do something with fashion and business and influences if that’s a thing.
Who’s your favorite designer? Chanel.
How much Chanel do you wear? I wear none, but I still like to look at it.