Last school year, Karli and Tanya Timko won the PIAA Class AA doubles championship.

It would be only natural that the Chartiers-Houston High School sister duo would have an opportunity to defend its title this year. And they have done just that ... with a twist.

The Timkos are entered in the WPIAL Class AA boys' doubles tournament that begins today at North Allegheny High School. Karli, a senior, and Tanya, a sophomore, earned the right to participate by cruising to the Section 1-AA doubles championship last week.

The Timko sisters won the WPIAL and PIAA girls' doubles championships in the fall of 2007 as part of a season in which both qualified for the WPIAL singles tournament and they lead the Bucs to the WPIAL team quarterfinals.

But this season, the fledgling Chartiers-Houston program didn't have enough girls come out for the team, so the season was cancelled. WPIAL rules allow individuals to enter the WPIAL singles tournament, but they do not permit doubles teams to enter representing a school.

"We just really wanted to defend our title because the first time it was so nice," Tanya said. "Once we found out we couldn't do it, we figured the only way to make it similar was to [play against] the boys in doubles."

The decision is a testament to how much Karli and Tanya enjoy playing together and how much "defending" a PIAA title means to them. Certainly, each would have been among the short list of favorites to win the WPIAL girls' singles title. And they would have had a shot at making a run at the boys' championship in singles, too.

Consider that Tanya, the younger sister who is, for now, considered the weaker player of the two, extended a match against Mount Pleasant's Eric Bradley, who was the WPIAL singles runner-up, to three sets.

But the Timkos were steadfast in their desire to play doubles.

"We didn't even consider going for singles at all," Karli said. "Since we couldn't [defend] our title for girls, we wanted to start a new run with the boys."

The Timkos lost only eight games in four section tournament matches, culminating with a 6-3, 6-2, win against Nathan Walch and Philip Passage of Southmoreland in the title match at Mount Pleasant High School.

Although they are veterans of high-level tournament play and have spent plenty of time training with and against top male players, the sisters don't know what to expect at the WPIAL tournament (the top three at the WPIAL championships advance to the PIAA tournament May 22-23 in Hershey).

"We're just working really hard on and off the court and hoping it will pay off," Karli said. "We don't know what's out there waiting for us, so we'll just go out there and do our best."

Karli stands no taller than 5 feet 5 and Tanya is a few inches shorter than that. But they pack enough punch to hit with the boys.

"They're athletic enough and their conditioning is top-notch," said Bucs coach Chuck Taylor, who has worked with the girls for about eight years now. "They're very determined out on the court, and they're used to hitting with boys who can hit it hard. If they can handle the speed of the bigger servers, they'll be all right."

Karli has earned a scholarship to play tennis at Division I Marshall University. She joins older sister Jaci (playing softball at Robert Morris), her father, Mike, and mother, Shari (football and gymnastics, respectively, at West Virginia University), and aunt Mary Lou Retton (Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast) as athletes in the family. In fact, the bloodlines go back even further to grandfather Ronnie Retton, who teamed in the backcourt with Mountaineers basketball legend Jerry West.

"It was definitely one of my dreams to play D-I ... and Marshall is a really good school," Karli said. "I've met with the coach, and they have a really good team. It had pretty much everything I wanted in a school, and the tennis team as well."

Tanya also strives to play tennis at that level, and she appears well on her way to doing so. Tanya is ranked No. 24 among players 16-and-under in the USTA's Middle States region that covers New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia. (Karli is No. 17 in the under-18 age group).

The Timkos lead a Chartiers-Houston team that qualified for the WPIAL team playoffs and was in the hunt for sharing the section title if it could beat Mount Pleasant in a match Tuesday. Karli was undefeated at first singles throughout the season heading into that match. Tanya had lost only once.

Sophomore A.J. Noce is the regular third singles player, and senior co-captains Ed Bush and Chris Cregut typically play first doubles. Senior Rich Andreolli and junior Shane Moss were undefeated at second doubles heading into the week.

"We have a small school where we all pretty much know everything about everyone in our school," Karli said. "We were all friends outside of being on the team, and this season has really brought us closer.

"I was not worried about [if the boys would accept the sisters on the team] at all. They've all been really good sports. Even the people we play against, most of them have been very welcoming and have good attitudes."