Here are 5 midseason storylines in Columbus-area high school girls tennis
As the high school girls tennis season enters its second half, league play is wrapping up for many teams and coaches’ attention is beginning to turn to potential postseason matchups.
The district tournament draw is Sept. 23, and by then coaches must know which singles players they believe have the talent to make deep tournament runs, and who might be best off teaming up in doubles.
Here are five storylines from the season so far:
1. Another freshman tops Olentangy Berlin’s lineup
Through happenstance, this is becoming something of a trend for the Bears.
After Allison Snyder played first singles a season ago and came within a win of the Division I state tournament, freshman Soleil Cordell earned that spot this fall and proceeded to win her first seven matches and nine of her first 10.
Snyder is sitting out this season to concentrate on non-scholastic tournaments but remains close to the team, coach Richard Hunt said.
“Soleil stepped in right away,” Hunt said. “She competes really well with some of the top players. … She’s very capable. She has good energy.
“We’ve talked about staying in points and rallies and matching (the opponent’s) level. It takes more than a couple shots sometimes to win those rallies.”
Cordell’s wins include a 6-3, 6-2 triumph against Upper Arlington’s Isabella Roth on Aug. 21. She fell 6-3, 6-0 to defending district champion Pritika Ghosh Choudhuri of Dublin Coffman on Aug. 30.
2. Youth also leads way at Worthington Christian
First-year Warriors coach Dino Tsibouris only half jokes that “he tried to warn the upperclassmen that there was a tidal wave of good players coming.”
Indeed, while junior Emma Flanigan holds the first-singles spot for the Warriors (6-3 overall, 3-1 Central Buckeye League), a slew of talented freshmen dot the lineup. Second-singles player Juliette Piper leads the way, with triplets Elise, Evie and Tori Bourgeois seeing time mostly at doubles.
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Junior Brooke Stone plays third singles. The lineup has been determined largely through challenge matches, and throughout the first month of the season 16 girls had played at least one varsity match.
“It’s a neat injection of talent,” Tsibouris said. “(Devising the lineup) has been challenging. It’s one of the first years we’ve had tryouts.
“We want to develop girls we’ll have for the long term. We hope we’ll be around (as a strong team) for three or four years at least.”
3. Strong singles play leads Reynoldsburg to title repeat
Raiders coach Les Somogyi acknowledged that his players pressured themselves to defend the OCC-Buckeye championship, but quickly added that sharing first place with Lancaster and Pickerington Central did not diminish the achievement.
“They were thrilled, absolutely thrilled,” Somogyi said. “We were counting on this being an encore season. It’s a shared deal, but we’re still very excited.”
Reynoldsburg (9-2, 4-1) is powered by a singles lineup led by seniors Kareen Meoko and Isabella Boskovska, both of whom started 8-0, and standout freshman Riley Elliott. Somogyi called Elliott (8-1) “the match maker” given that her outcome at third singles has decided a handful of results.
“Kareen and Isabella often win easily, so my No. 3, she can swing the match,” said Somogyi, who has coached Elliott since fifth grade. “It is a lot of pressure. I end up coaching her mentally as much as anything. It’s 99% mental coaching. She has the shots. She has the forehand, backhand and an incredible wide serve, but mental coaching is what she needs. That’s pulled her through most of those matches.”
Meoko is seeking her third consecutive Division I district tournament berth and second in a row in doubles.
4. Third singles proves key for Dublin Coffman
Anchored by a singles lineup of senior Ghosh Choudhuri and juniors Lauren Burkett and Bethel Binyam, the Shamrocks are on the verge of officially winning their third consecutive OCC-Central championship.
Ghosh Choudhuri is 9-2 at first singles and Burkett is 10-1 at second. Binyam joined the singles lineup after mostly playing doubles a season ago.
“The 1-2 punch we have is pretty strong, and Bethel has made some incredible improvements,” coach Brett Hundertpfund said. “She has stepped up and filled that role nicely. In tennis, you have to improve a bunch of things, but she’s stepped up her groundstrokes and I like the way she is hitting the ball. She can generate a nice pace and her serve has improved.”
Hundertpfund also credited the second-doubles team of sophomores Erin Braskett and Rachanna Senthil for a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win that clinched a 3-2 victory at league rival UA on Aug. 29.
Coffman (9-2) is for all intents and purposes 5-0 in the league, having clinched a win over Olentangy Liberty by virtue of three singles wins. The teams finished their match Thursday, per OCC policy.
5. Defending district champions remain alive in OTCA
New Albany (Division I) and Columbus Academy (Division II) have reached Ohio Tennis Coaches Association district quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, as they seek returns to the state tournament.
Both teams finished third at state a season ago. Academy, which is seeking its seventh consecutive district title, will play Columbus School for Girls in one district semifinal.
Wellington faces Marietta in the other.
Several early-round matches in Division I have yet to be completed.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 5 midseason storylines in central Ohio high school girls tennis
