By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Covington Catholic’s tennis team had six players reach the 9th Region semifinals in boys singles and doubles to earn berths in the state tournament to be played May 28-30 in Lexington, Richmond and Berea.
The winners of quarterfinal matches on Monday included CovCath juniors Alex Yeager and Kalei Christensen, who won last year’s state championship in boys doubles. The other CovCath doubles partners who advanced to the region semifinals are Jacob Kramer and William Tribble.
CovCath senior Brady Hussey and his younger brother, Blake, are two of the final four players in the boys singles bracket. Hussey was the 9th Region singles champion the last three years while Blake is a freshman newcomer.
The region semifinal schedule for Tuesday has doubles at 3:30 p.m. and singles at 4:30 p.m. on the outdoor courts at CovCath. If it rains, matches will be played indoors at Five Seasons with doubles at 6 p.m. and singles at 6 and 7 p.m.
Singles semifinal matches will be Brady Hussey vs. Shayaan Ahmad of Villa Madonna and Blake Hussey vs. Eli Back of Highlands.
The doubles matches will be Yeager-Christensen vs. Griffen Derry-Colin McClure of Dixie Heights and Kramer-Tribble vs. Navneeth Selveraju-Ben Baker of Ryle.
The semifinals of the 9th Region girls tennis tournament are scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday on the outdoor courts at Tower Park in Ft. Thomas. Players from six high schools will compete in those matches.
In singles, it will be Kayla Johnson of Cooper vs. Kyah Andros of Ryle and Sadie Jones of Beechwood vs. Maja Oldemanns of Highlands. None of those girls has won a region singles title before.
The doubles matches will be Avery Love-Niveditha Selvaraju of Ryle vs. Lucy Bailey-Isabella Mcelwee of Notre Dame and Cassidy Derry-Emma Zimmer of Dixie Heights vs. Clare Shay-Sam Spellman of Notre Dame.
In the 10th Region tennis finals on Monday, Campbell County junior Rylee Ritter defeated her teammate Izzy Jayasuriya, 6-2, 6-0, in girls singles and Mario Carpio Fernandez of Scott lost to Noah Earlywine of Bourbon County in the boys title match.
Top scorer in 9th Region is first recruit for NKU basketball coach
Newport Central Catholic junior Caroline Eaglin became the first player recruited by Northern Kentucky University’s new women’s basketball coach Jeff Hans when she posted her commitment online Monday.
Eaglin, a 5-foot-9 guard, was the leading scorer in 9th Region girls basketball the last two seasons with averages of 24.8 as a sophomore and 21.9 as a junior. She was named to the team that will play in the Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Game on June 1.
During her four-year varsity career, Eaglin has scored a total of 1,807 points in 109 games for a 16.6 average. Last season, she shot 45 percent from the field and led the NewCath team in rebounds with a 7.4 average.
Eaglin is the second member of her family recruited by NKU. Last November, her older brother, Caleb, accepted a scholarship to play golf for the Norse.
Hans was named head coach of the NKU women’s basketball team on April 22. He’s taking over an NCAA Division I program that compiled a 106-126 record over the last eight seasons under former head coach Camryn Volz.
Dixie Heights puts assistant in charge of boys basketball program
The new head coach of the Dixie Heights boys basketball team is Scott Code, who was a varsity assistant in the program the last two seasons after stepping down as Brossart’s head coach.
“His leadership abilities, work ethic, attention to detail and knowledge of the game will be a tremendous asset to the continued success of our basketball program,” Dixie Heights school officials said in a media release.
Code took charge of the Brossart program during the 2020-21 season that started late due to the pandemic and remained head coach for the 2021-22 season. The Mustangs compiled a 25-30 record during those two seasons.
He was an assistant under former Dixie Heights coach Chad Fields the last two seasons. After finishing 7-18 in 2022-23, the Colonels posted an 18-14 record last season with two-point losses in their last two district and region playoff games.
Three of the top five scorers on last year’s team were juniors Owen Niehues, Max Rubemeyer and Griffin Derry, who averaged 15.1 points and shot 50.6 percent (91 of 180) from behind the 3-point line.