Hoover's epic girls tennis season hits closing week with 2 state tournaments in Wooster
Hoover hauls an oversized load of wins to Wooster for the OHSAA girls tennis state tournament.
It would take a scale built to handle tractor-trailer rigs to weigh all the Viking victories.
Ryan Shaffer, the winningest coach in Ohio high school tennis history, escorts the winningest player in Stark County high school girls tennis history, Tess Bucher, to the big event.
Two Hoover doubles entries are there for the Thursday-Friday state tournament at the College of Wooster.
Ema Papcke and Addison Sheil, sophomores whose combined record as singles players is 41-1, are unbeaten district champions when combined for doubles. Seniors Bridget Fink and Nyla Spangler were 20-0 as a doubles team in the regular season.
Shaffer's state tournament advice could be a parody of an old song. "It ain't heavy, it's just tennis."
"You've done everything you can to prepare for this moment," he tells them. "Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the challenge."
It's a top-of-the-world moment. Hoover has been ranked No. 1 in Ohio wire to wire.
Fierce matches await in Wooster, where, the day after the OHSAA tournament, the Vikings face powerhouse Mason in the semifinals of the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association state team tournament (Calista Leghart and Lindsay Crawford join in the latter).
Tess Bucher, Celena McCoury rank 1-2 as Stark County girls tennis players with most wins?
Bucher is in the conversation as to "greatest high school girls tennis player in county history." Shaffer won't touch that one with a 10-foot racquet.
Watching Bucher grow has been one of the special experiences of a coaching life in which the 74-year-old Shaffer's career record is 1,044-174.
But that was the case when he coached Celena McCoury at St. Thomas Aquinas in the 1990s.
McCoury (139-5 overall) held the county record for girls tennis wins for more than 25 years before Bucher (144-9) broke it recently.
Like Bucher, McCoury was a tennis "name" well before high school.
Like Bucher, McCoury tested her game against Michael Rubin, one of the best male players in county history.
Like Bucher, McCoury's private coach was Joe Concialdi.
Coaching Stark County's elite tennis players
Concialdi grew up in Colorado, played for Arizona State, played for money, and became a teaching pro.
One day in 1985, flipping through a tennis magazine, he spotted an ad. Hall of Fame Fitness Center in Canton needed a tennis pro/instructor. Bob Thomas of the facility also wanted a coach for his precocious son, Jim.
Almost 40 years later ...
Concialdi relates to "King Richard," the film about a tennis dad driving his young daughters, Serena and Venus. Canton's Ronnie Harris, a 1968 Olympic boxing gold medalist, steered his daughters, Tumeka and Briana, into tennis; for a while, Concialdi coached them.
Tumeka played at Michigan before turning pro and remains in the industry in Bradenton, Florida. Briana, who played at Ohio State, is director of tennis at Turnberry Isle County Club in Florida.
Concialdi also worked with Alison Silverio, who grew up in Louisville, was a state runner-up at Aquinas, helped Georgia Tech win the 2007 NCAA championship, and now is head coach at Notre Dame.
He also tutored Christina Denny, who reached the state finals as an Aquinas freshman.
"All of these girls were good athletes," Concialdi said. "All of them were determined and worked hard."
Stark County's greatest high school girls tennis player?
Best girls high school player in county history? It probably comes down to Bucher vs. McCoury.
Comparing their trips to four OHSAA state tournaments:
Freshman year: McCoury won the 1993 Division II singles championship. Bucher reached the 2020 Division I semifinals before losing to eventual champion Elizabeth Pendergast, a Cincinnati St. Ursula senior.
Sophomore year: McCoury fell in Round 2 of the 1994 D2 state semifinals to eventual champion Anne Plessinger of Springboro. Bucher lost in the 2021 D1 state semis to eventual champion Shyla Aggarwal of Mason.
Junior year: McCoury reached the 1995 D2 finals and lost to defending champ Plessinger. Bucher reached the 2022 D1 finals and fell to defending champ Aggarwal.
Senior year: McCoury faced her freshman teammate, Denny, in the 1996 D2 state finals and prevailed 6-2, 7-5. Bucher enters the 2023 D1 state finals unbeaten.
Notably, Bucher and McCoury spent four years at their high schools.
The Harris sisters moved to Florida without ever playing for a local high school.
Denny relocated to Florida after her freshman year at Aquinas.
Silverio likewise played just one year at Aquinas before pursuing her tennis career outside high school.
Jackson, Aquinas and Hoover have had other tremendous players. Laurel Utterback, a Hoover senior when Bucher was in eighth grade, is an all-time great, if not quite in the Bucher/McCoury stratosphere.
Tess Bucher, Celena McCoury 'deserved everything they got' through hard work
Bucher vs. McCoury? Who wins?
Shaffer coached each of them for four years, but he only smiles at the question. He does say:
"Tess and Celina both are right up there. Celena absolutely dominated at Aquinas. She played in D2, but in the '90s, D2 high school tennis was way stronger than D1, because of all private schools.
"Tess has kept getting better. She's improved her serve and developed more power. She hits a lot more winners. She has developed her serve into a real weapon.
"Both of them deserved everything they got."
Michael Rubin, who practiced with both McCoury and Bucher, said:
"Both Celena and Tess made other people transform to their style," Rubin said. "The game changed quite a bit in the last 25 years in terms of constructing points, but both played a similar type game the rest of the girls had to catch up to.
"Both of them … good movers, strong from the baseline, worked to develop the all-around skills to be the best they can be."
McCoury, now Celena Matthews, loved her Aquinas days.
Celena and her husband Jeff Matthews, a former Aquinas golfer, live in the Columbus area, where she is an occupational therapist in Dublin.
She hasn't seen Bucher play but hears all about her.
"Joe Concialdi and I have been talking about her," Celena said. "It's been exciting to follow."
Tess Bucher arrives at OHSAA state tournament following season of 'Great times. Great wins.'
Coach Shaffer has video recordings of McCoury but hasn't broken them out. Bucher is immersed in an epic senior year and is merely amused by comparisons.
"I've been enjoying the season while realizing at some point it's going to be over," she said. "I love my team. Great times. Great wins. I wouldn't change anything."
Former Ohio State standout Chris Porter knew McCoury when they were young players. He follows Bucher as head coach at Federal League rival GlenOak.
"I grew up practicing with Celena," Porter said. "Celena and Tess are similar. Celena was a very strong hitter who would play aggressively from the baseline … really good ground strokes. Tess is kind of he same way. She has variety to her game.
"I would put both of them up in the top in the area all-time, for sure."
The history lesson might extend into a team vs. team debate, Hoover 2023 vs. Aquinas 1996.
Except, humoring history is just a side note to Hoover's living, breathing biggest week of a big year.
Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: North Canton Hoover, Tess Bucher pursue girls tennis state titles
