Peters Township and Sewickley Academy have already each won two WPIAL girls tennis championships this season; they'd both like to add a pair of PIAA titles, too.

The Indians and Panthers won WPIAL Class AAA and Class AA team championships, respectively, last week. Earlier in the month, Peters Township's Stephanie Smith and Sara Komer took the WPIAL Class AAA doubles championship on the same set of North Allegheny High School courts at the same time Sewickley Academy's Logan Antill and Caroline Ross simultaneously were winning the WPIAL Class AA doubles title.

The WPIAL conquered, the teams and doubles duos from Peters and Sewickley all have turned their attention to the PIAA level.

"Our goal is definitely to win the whole thing," Sewickley Academy's Ross said. "No WPIAL Double-A team has ever done that. We're looking to represent our school and represent Pittsburgh. It'd be really fun and real gratifying to win that."

Ross, a senior, was talking about the PIAA team championships, which are down to the quarterfinals. The Hershey Racquet Club is hosting the final three rounds of the event. The semifinals and finals are Saturday in both classifications.

Peters Township plays Landisville Hempfield in the Class AAA quarterfinals 3:30 p.m. today. WPIAL runner-up Shady Side Academy plays at 6:30 against Unionville.

Two WPIAL teams are also in the Class AA quarterfinals. Sewickley Academy plays Berks Catholic at 2 p.m., WPIAL runner-up Quaker Valley plays Wyomissing at 8 a.m.

Each of the quarterfinalists won a first-round match Tuesday at sites across the commonwealth.

WPIAL Class AAA teams have dominated the PIAA tournament in recent years, taking the past five titles and nine of the 11 that have been staged overall. The past three years, in fact, the PIAA title match has been a rematch of the WPIAL championship.

"Usually, we know that if you do well in this district, you're going to do well at states," Peters Township coach Brandt Bowman said. "It's hard to tell because nobody really knows who's out there and how strong the teams from around the state are, so you just have to go up there prepared to have a tough match every round."

Peters Township won the 2009 WPIAL and PIAA titles. Last season, Shady Side Academy beat Mt. Lebanon in the WPIAL and PIAA championship matches.

While WPIAL teams often succeed in the PIAA, history doesn't always repeat itself. The WPIAL and PIAA team championship matches are no more than two weeks apart, but twice in the past five years, the WPIAL runner-up beat the WPIAL champion it had just lost to in the PIAA championship match.

Peters Township pulled that trick in 2006 after losing to Shady Side Academy in the 2006 WPIAL title match.

"They definitely played well [in the WPIAL championship]," Shady Side Academy co-coach Tom Mercer said of Peters Township. "If we're fortunate enough to end up playing them again in the [PIAA] final, we'll have to play one of our best matches."

But for all the success the WPIAL has had in Class AAA, WPIAL Class AA teams have never won a PIAA title since team tournament play began in 2000. District 1 has produced the past seven champions, although Quaker Valley was runner-up three times.

Undefeated Sewickley Academy has blown through the competition this season and might be good enough to end the WPIAL Class AA PIAA drought.

The Panthers also have two opportunities to add to a spotted WPIAL history at the Class AA level in individual tournaments. Since two classifications were formed in 1998, only one WPIAL singles player and one WPIAL doubles team have won the PIAA tournament.

The PIAA singles and doubles tournaments in each classification are Nov. 4-5 at the Hershey Racquet Club.

Ross and fellow senior Antill won the WPIAL doubles tournament with relative ease and could make a PIAA run, too.

On the other side of the PIAA Class AA doubles bracket are Maria Frischling and Anna Magovern, their Sewickley Academy teammates whom they defeated in the WPIAL final.

The Panthers even have a chance for a prolific PIAA triple crown -- Eva Sung was the WPIAL Class AA singles runner-up to Sarah Shashura of Brownsville. Those two and Quaker Valley's Spencer Caravaggio are entered into the PIAA Class AA singles tournament.

Valley's Courtney Brennan and Emily Robson, the WPIAL's third-place Class AA doubles finisher, qualified for PIAAs for the second consecutive year.

Local participants in the PIAA Class AAA singles tournament are Plum's Ronit Yurovsky, Pine-Richland's Taylor Perz and Allderdice's Hannah Famili.

In Class AAA doubles, duos from Peters Township (Smith and Komer), Mt. Lebanon (Callie Frey and Annie Baich) and Allderdice (Melanie Levine and Lizzy Haynes) make the trip to Hershey.

The Allderdice players earned their way by winning their respective City League titles. Smith and Komer are the WPIAL Class AAA doubles champions.

Yurovsky is the defending PIAA Class AAA singles champion, and a doubles team from Peters Township won the PIAA title two years ago.

First Published: October 28, 2011, 8:00 a.m.