The Lady Purple Hurricanes fell 3-1 at Dellinger Park, with its sole victory courtesy of its No. 2 doubles team of Sarah Vaughan and Mallory Walker.
"We were very competitive today," head coach Julius Robberts said. "A lot of the matches against St. Pius could have gone either way."
He said the win was produced by hard play and determination.
"Our doubles two team came to win today," Robberts said, "and they were able to do that."
The pair won 6-2, 6-3.
Two of the Canes' singles players took losses but battled hard throughout the evening.The third singles player, Maggie Dowling, lost her first match (5-7) and then took the second game, 7-6. She was fighting to win her tiebreaker when St. Pius claimed its third match and her contest was called.
He added Adrienne Green (6-4, 6-3) showed grit but just came up a little short.
"We knew coming out today and even in the Sweet 16 round that every match would be difficult," Robberts said. "The girls put up a fight.
"Maggie [Dowling] fought off a couple of match points to come back and win the second match. Maddie [McGinnis, 7-5, 6-2] just kept fighting.
"I'm sorry we lost, but we had a great season this year, the kind of season to be proud of."
Dowling, one of the team's two seniors, said the Lady Canes had wanted to go farther, but St. Pius wouldn't allow that.
"They beat us in this round my sophomore year," she said. "They were just as good then as they are now."
The senior had pushed herself and her teammates hard to take one step farther in the playoffs this year, but it was not to be. "We wanted to go one more round, but I'm satisfied with our play."
Robberts said the Lady Canes gave it their best effort Thursday, and he enjoyed coaching them this season, his first after taking over from Karen Ruff.
"Like the boys, the girls gave me a chance this season and worked hard," Robberts said. "I had a great assistant in Stephanie Earick. The team worked well together. They had great chemistry and had fun and were very competitive. That's what high school tennis is all about."
The coach said he is pleased with the effort by the team during the season, and he has asked them to use this summer to continue playing tournament-caliber tennis.
"I asked them to keep their game tournament-sharp," he said. "That's what it takes to win at this point in the season."
Robberts said next year's Lady Canes will be minus Dowling and Megan Patton, two key players. "We have some players coming up, and we should have enough talent to be competitive in the region and make the state playoffs."