By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Covington Catholic swept the singles and doubles titles in the Region 9 boys tennis tournament for the sixth consecutive year on Wednesday, but the Colonels needed a tiebreaker decision to keep the streak alive.
In the doubles final, CovCath juniors Will Tribble and Jacob Kramer of CovCath won a 10-4 tiebreaker against Neel Reddy and Andrew Dunaway of Beechwood after they split the first two sets by matching 6-3 scores on the courts at CovCath.
Tribble and Kramer lost to CovCath teammates in the region doubles finals the last two years. Reddy and Dunaway were a new entry in the bracket. Both duos won their first four matches in straight sets to reach the final.
Last year, Tribble and Kramer made it to the state tournament semifinals in doubles and played on the Colonels’ state championship team.
CovCath junior Blake Hussey defeated Villa Madonna senior Shayaan Ahmad, 6-4, 6-0, to win his first region singles title Wednesday.
Last year, Hussey played No. 1 doubles and won the state championship with a partner who graduated. He is the third member of his family to win the region singles title. His two older brothers, Austin and Brady, were champions as well.
The four semifinalists in Region 9 singles and doubles advance to a semi-state tournament on May 20 at Lexington Sayre High School. Those brackets will include semifinalists from Regions 10, 11, and 12.
The Campbell County boys who reached the Region 10 semifinals were brothers Cameron and Chris Wells in doubles and Sebastian Niemeier in singles.
In the Region 10 girls tournament, three of the four state qualifiers in singles were champion Beatrice Chiessi and runner-up Kaylin Lovell of Scott and semifinalist Izzy Jayasuriya of Campbell County.
Doubles partners Grace Heidelberg and Izzy Hardin of Campbell County also reached the semifinals to earn a state berth.
The list of Northern Kentucky state qualifiers who competed in the Region 8 tournament includes Walton-Verona freshman Finley Mackay, runner-up in boys singles, and Simon Kenton seniors Gabrielle Browning and Annika Derks, who made it to the semifinals in girls doubles.
The semi-state tournament for Regions 5-8 is scheduled for May 20 at Freeman Lake Tennis Complex in Elizabethtown.