By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Notre Dame girls’ tennis coach Rob Hardin made some adjustments in his lineup for the sectional round of the state team tournament on Saturday and it paid off.
The Pandas defeated Lexington Catholic, 3-2, and Highlands, 3-1, on their home court to take the sectional title for the fourth time in the last five years and advance to the state semifinals to be played Thursday at the University of Kentucky.
“We don’t have a top-tier player and then a drop-off,” Hardin said of his team. “We’re talented all across the board, which is nice when it comes to (team tennis). All our kids know how to play singles and doubles so we have that flexibility.”
Francie Case rallied to beat Amanda Miller of Lexington Catholic in No. 2 singles, 3-6, 6-4 (10-7) to give the Pandas the final point in a 3-2 victory (Jackson Sports Photography)
The sectional round of the boys’ team tournament was also played on Saturday and Covington Catholic became the first boys’ tennis team from Northern Kentucky to win the title. The Colonels defeated Lexington Henry Clay, 3-2, in the first match and Highlands, 3-1, in the title match played on their new home court.
The lineup Hardin put together for Notre Dame’s sectional matches was much different than the one he used in the Region 9 playoffs. He changed partners on both doubles teams and put senior Abigal Kennedy at No. 1 singles instead of junior Francie Case, who won the regional singles title last week.
In the opening match on Saturday, Case rallied to beat Amanda Miller of Lexington Catholic in No. 2 singles, 3-6, 6-4 (10-7) to give the Pandas the final point in a 3-2 victory.
“We played Lexington Catholic during the season and knew the only way they would have a chance of beating us was winning all three singles,” Hardin said. “That was the reason for putting Abigal in (at No. 1 singles) and moving everybody else down a notch because we knew we’d have a better chance of winning at No. 2 or No. 3 singles.”
In the sectional final, both of Notre Dame’s doubles teams won their matches and senior Emma Hughes defeated Sarah Hoffmann of Highlands, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) in No. 3 singles to give the Pandas the three points they needed to win the title match.
The winning doubles teams for Notre Dame were senior Maryann Meadows and sophomore Kylie Moellering at No. 1 and senior Sarah Frisch and sophomore Catherine Meadows at No. 2.
“The key to the whole season has been our flexibility,” Hardin said. “With kids playing singles and doubles with different partners, we’ve been able to mix and match and it’s worked out great.”
With their two victories in the sectional, the Pandas have a perfect 17-0 record in team matches going into the state tournament. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association will conduct a blind draw on Monday to determine pairings for Thursday’s semifinals.
Most of the Notre Dame players have never competed in the state tournament before, but their coach believes they have the talent to make a run at the team title with whatever lineup he puts together.
“We’re 17-0 now (in team matches) and that was a surprise I didn’t see coming because we played most of the better schools in the state,” Hardin said. “It just depends on if we can get the right draw in the semifinals and get some momentum going.”
The only change CovCath tennis coach Al Hertsenberg made in his lineup for the boys’ sectional was breaking up one of the doubles teams he used in the regional tournament.
The coach took sophomore Anthony Bosch out of No. 1 doubles and played him at No. 2 singles instead.
Bosch responded by winning the deciding point in the first match with a 3-6, 6-4 (10-1) victory over Lexington Henry Clay junior Alex Dublier.
After Dublier committed some unforced errors in the second set of the match, Bosch seized the opportunity and made a stirring comeback to post the victory.
Anthony Bosch captured the decisive point Saturday in Covington Catholic’s sectional tournament win over Henry Clay (Jackson Sports Photography)
“Dublier had an unforced error that was really bad and I could see Anthony’s body language change,” Hertsenberg said. “All of a sudden, he just became aggressive and started forcing Dublier side to side and winning big points.”
After Bosch won the second set to force a tiebreaker, he ran off 10 straight points to come away with the victory that put CovCath in the sectional final against Highlands.
In the title match, Bosch and his freshman teammate Max Cook won in singles and brothers Jake and Jared Haught won in doubles for CovCath. All three of those victories came in straight sets so there wasn’t much drama involved.
“It feels incredible,” Jake said of winning the sectional team title. “We’ve been working all year to get this opportunity and it’s so great winning it here at CovCath on our home courts for the first time.”
Jake is a junior and Jared is a sophomore. They did not play a lot of doubles together during the season, but the coach put the brothers together for the playoffs.
“We were really pumped,” Jake said. “We were always fighting with each other (growing up) so we’ve come a long way. Winning a couple matches here and qualifying for state is a great turn-around.”
The brothers expect to be together on the court once again when CovCath makes its debut in the semifinals of the state team tennis tournament on Thursday. They won’t find outtheir team’s opponent until a draw is conducted on Monday.
“CovCath has never won a state title (in team tennis) before and we believe this is the group that can do it,” Jake said. “This is our year.”
