By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
There wasn’t much drama during the 9th Region boys tennis championships on Wednesday when Covington Catholic players faced each other in both the singles and doubles finals on their home court.
As expected, varsity veterans won both titles by defeating their freshman teammates in straight sets. But those outcomes were soon set aside to focus on the ultimate goal they all share. CovCath won the team title at last year’s boys state tournament for the first time and the current players want to do it again under a new format.
This year, boys and girls teams comprised of three singles players and two doubles teams will compete in single-elimination brackets to determine region and state team champions.
“That would be awesome going back-to-back,” CovCath senior Brady Hussey said of winning the boys state team title again.
“Last year was awesome and we’ve worked even harder for it this year. We know it’s not going to be easy. We just really like our team right now and want to try and blow out everybody to do it back-to-back.”
Hussey claimed his fourth consecutive 9th Region boys singles title Wednesday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over his younger brother, Blake, one of three freshmen newcomers in CovCath coach Al Hertsenberg’s lineup.
In the other region final, juniors Alex Yeager and Kalei Christensen, who won last year’s state doubles championship, defeated their freshmen teammates Jacob Kramer and William Tribble, 6-0, 6-2.
All of them qualified for the singles and doubles state tournaments set for May 28-30. On Saturday, they will be playing in the 9th Region boys team tournament that will determine a berth in the new state tournament June 3-4.
It’s such a busy post-season schedule that Brady, who graduates on Friday, has postponed making his college commitment until it’s all done. An exceptional two-sport athlete, he decided to play tennis in college instead of basketball.
“I’ve gone on a couple (college) visits recently to Dayton and Illinois,” he said. “But I’m kinda waiting until after state to finalize anything and see if I can go on a couple more visits. I’ll be figuring all that out sometime soon.”
Brady’s serve was very impressive in the region final. He had four aces in the second game of the second set and ended the match with another serve that whizzed past his left-handed younger brother.
“Some of his serves you just can’t defend, even at the college level they’d be hard to return,” Blake said. “That’s what makes me better, just no mercies and figuring out myself how to get better. After this match, I’ll look back and become better off it, mentally and physically.”
CovCath doubles partners Yeager and Christensen said they played singles for much of the season before getting together to prepare for the region and state tournaments that they won titles in last year.
After winning all four of their region tournament matches in straight sets, the two juniors feel like they’re playing even better than last season.
“I feel like we’re both just good doubles players,” Yeager said. “We come together, do the right things at the right spots and at the net. As long as you’re doing that, it doesn’t matter how hard you’re hitting the ball. You don’t usually hit winners in doubles, you just set your partner up.”
They’re looking forward to defending their state doubles title in two weeks, but the next thing on their mind is doing their part to win the 9th Region team tournament this weekend.
“We feel our team is bigger than just us winning as a doubles team,” Yeager said. “I’d rather see our freshmen happy, too, and win state.”
New champions will be crowned in 9th Region girls tennis finals
The finals in the 9th Region girls tennis tournament will be played at 4 p.m. Thursday at Tower Park in Ft. Thomas and the winners of the singles and doubles matches will be first-time champions.
In the singles semifinals on Wednesday, top-seeded Kayla Johnson of Cooper defeated Kyah Andros of Ryle, 6-2, 6-2, and Sadie Jones of Beechwood defeated Maja Oldemanns of Highlands, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the finals.
The doubles semifinal matches were also decided in straight sets. Avery Love-Niveditha Selvaraju of Ryle defeated Lucy Bailey-Isabella Mcelwee of Notre Dame, 6-1, 6-4, and Clare Shay-Sam Spellman of Notre Dame defeated Cassidy Derry-Emma Zimmer of Dixie Heights, 6-2, 6-0.
All of them will advance to the girls singles and doubles state tournaments to be played May 28-30.