Kiski Area grad Lexi Colaianni becomes key member of Penn State Altoona tennis team after year away

Lexi Colaianni never intended to play two sports at Penn State Altoona, let alone have tennis be one of them.

The Kiski Area grad was recruited to play basketball for the Lions. A second-team Valley News Dispatch All-Star as a senior, Colaianni set a Cavaliers school record by making nine 3-pointers in a game during her junior season.

That came after missing her sophomore year with a stress fracture in her hip. The injury came, in part, as a result of playing tennis, which was part of a rigorous workload she carried early in her days as a high school athlete.

She played tennis as a freshman at Kiski Area, as well as soccer and basketball, in addition to all of the training that goes with each.

After a soccer practice during her sophomore year, she went directly to lift weights then to basketball practice. The next morning, when she got out of bed, she said she stepped on the floor and collapsed.

That’s when the stress fracture — the result of simple overuse — was discovered. Colaianni lost her entire sophomore year of athletics.

After six months of recovery, she scaled back on her activities, dropping tennis and soccer to focus on basketball.

By the time her senior year rolled around, however, she decided to take up tennis again. It was mostly for fun, she said, but she did have a reasonable amount of success, helping the Cavaliers qualify for the playoffs for the first time in 13 years and qualifying for the WPIAL doubles tournament with partner Amber Orowitz.

That would be the end of her competitive tennis endeavors. Or so she thought.

Mark Sapita, an assistant women’s basketball coach at Penn State Altoona, also is the head women’s tennis coach. During fall workouts for the basketball team, Sapita offered a blanket invitation for any basketball players who might want to try tennis.

At that time, Sapita said he had only five players on the team and was looking for athletes to fill out the roster. Colaianni balked at first.

“I said no at that point because I didn’t know what to expect from college,” she said. “I’m very big on academics … and I didn’t know if I would have been giving myself too much being on the basketball team and being a freshman in a new environment.”

So Colaianni concentrated on basketball. Her playing time picked up as the season progressed, and she averaged 4.6 points.

At the end of her freshman year, Colaianni had a revelation: She had enough time in her schedule to give tennis another go. This past spring, she asked Sapita if she could work out for him.

“I wanted to start hitting just to see where I’m at,” she said. “And here I am.”

The sophomore is now a fixture in the Lions’ tennis lineup, playing No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles. And if there was any rust from so much time away from the sport, she didn’t show it.

In the first week of the season, Colaianni won both of her singles matches and both of her doubles matches. She earned Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Player of the Week for her efforts.

Colaianni, in fact, went 5-1 through Penn State Altoona’s first six singles matches. Her only loss was against Saint Vincent. She also was 4-2 in doubles.

“This is the thing with Lex,” Sapita said. “She’s a good athlete, and that goes an incredibly long way. If you are athletic, you can make up for some of that rust and be competitive. Lex is not going to give up on anything.”

And if there was any question as to her newfound dedication to tennis, consider this: After the Saint Vincent match, Sapita told his players they could take two days off. He did, however, leave the door open for any of them who might want to come in and do some hitting.

Colaianni didn’t hesitate. Not only did she get in some extra hitting, she watched video of her matches against Saint Vincent to identify her mistakes.

“That’s great because I can learn from everything that I did wrong,” she said. “I definitely have a lot to work on, and I am still learning so much.”

Added Sapita: “She’s willing to work, and she wants to work and she wants to get better. And when you have a player like that, it’s awesome. You want to work with a player like that.”

While Sapita acknowledged Colaianni has technical refinements to make in her game, the most crucial thing for her at this point, he said, is getting more seasoning in matches.

“Just getting that game experience and learning how to manage a game and learning how to manage a point, those things are really big,” he said.

Soon, of course, Colaianni will be looking ahead to basketball season. She admitted she wasn’t prepared for the intensity of college basketball, so she worked over the summer to ramp up for this winter.

A shooting guard, Colaianni said her goal for this basketball season is to become a “valuable starter” for coach Halee Hutchinson.

For now, there’s tennis, and Colaianni is hoping to continue her strong play as the season progresses. No longer is tennis just a sideline that she does for fun. She has become serious about the sport and wants to succeed.

“I think Lex has great potential to move up in the lineup,” Sapita said. “I’d like to see her get up into the three (singles), maybe even the two spot by the time she is a senior. We want her to be as good as she can possibly be, and we’ll do everything we possibly can to help her get where she wants to go.”

Said Colaianni: “I have always played basketball and have always taken basketball more seriously. But college tennis is a whole different level, and I have to take it seriously and I enjoy taking it seriously.

“It’s something I actually care to get better at. … So, honestly, I’d say they’re pretty even at this point.”