By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Covington Catholic tennis players reached the semifinals of the boys state tournament in both singles and doubles and the final four in the girls singles bracket includes the top-seed from Covington Latin.
CovCath sophomore Brady Hussey and CovLatin junior Sara Watanabe are the local singles players who have semifinal matches at 9 a.m. Thursday at Top Seed Tennis Club in Lexington. Watanabe entered the tournament seeded No. 1 in girls and Hussey was seeded No. 2 in boys.
CovCath sophomore Brady Hussey (File photo by Bob Jackson)
The CovCath duo of senior Jackson Poulos and freshman Alex Yeager made it to the semifinals in boys doubles, even though they were not among the top four seeds.
This is the first time CovCath players have reached the state semifinals in singles and doubles in the same season.
Poulos and Yeager defeated fourth-seeded Quinn Maguet and Dylan Koen of Corbin, 6-4, 6-4, in Wednesday’s quarterfinal round. They will face top-seeded Tyler Bush and Tyler Scanlon of Louisville St. Xavier in a semifinal match at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Hussey’s semifinal opponent in boys singles will be fourth-seeded Evan Duggal of Lexington Henry Clay. Both of them won their four previous matches in straight sets, but Hussey had to turn back a strong challenge from Josh Meza of Ballard, 6-2, 6-4, in the quarterfinals.
Watanabe advanced to the state semifinals in girls singles for the second straight year by defeating Audrina Schaefer of Louisville Male, 6-2, 6-4, in the quarterfinals. Her semifinal match will be against Louisville Sacred Heart sophomore Lilah Jane Shallcross, who upset the bracket’s No. 3 seed.
Last year, Watanabe became the first CovLatin player to reach the state final four in girls singles since 2001 when Miriam Rahali was state runner-up. Watanaba lost a third-set tiebreaker to Louisville Sacred Heart senior Ellie Eades last year.
