2007-2008 Girl's Tennis
Record 7wins 5 losses
The Girl's team faced some difficult matches without number 1 singles player Alex Covington, out due to illness for four key matches. Alex won several matches 6-0, 6-0, but lost to the number one singles players from Beechwood and Highlands. Alex had a tough draw in the regional, losing to finalist Emily Roebker from Notre Dame.
This was a season where everyone proved to be the most valuable player at one time or another: Bri D'Alessandri did Villa proud filling in for Alex, winning a key match against St. Henry in 3 sets. Katherine Hayes won a decisive match against Campbell County in straight sets as well. #1Doubles and Team Captains, seniors Emily Greenwood and Mandie Napier won big matches against Campbell County and Calvary Christian and #2Doubles Stephanie Pike and Meghan Moehlmann were the only teammembers to win against Beechwood in the conference championship, in a tough 3-set match.
Senior Rachael Osterhues paired with Junior Catherine Hayes to win our only match against Highlands in #1JV Doubles. Freshman Molly Backsheider won the only match against Notre Dame at #1 JV singles.
Katie Cunha also made Villa proud, filling in where she was needed in singles and doubles and advancing to the quarterfinals of the Junior Varsity tournament.
2008 Season
April 7 Lloyd - WIN 5-0
April 8 Calvary WIN 5-0
April 10 Holmes - WIN (Forfeit)
April 15 Covington Latin WIN 5-0
April 16 Scott LOSS 1-4
April 17 Notre Dame LOSS 0-5
April 22 St. Henry LOSS 2-3
April 23 Campbell County WIN 3-2
April 24 Dixie WIN 3-2
April 27 Bellevue WIN (Conference Tournament) 5-0
April 29 Beechwood LOSS (Conference Final) 1-4
May 06 Highlands LOSS 0-5
*Ryle Rained Out, Conner cancelled due to scheduling conflict.
Girls Tennis 2005-2006
Seniors: Stacey Hirt – attending Purdue U., Allison Due – attending U. Dayton, Rachael Berberich traveling down I-71 to U of L., Brenna Keller will be attending Centre College and Miki Morita, who will be returning to Japan to complete her college education.
Juniors: Emily Greenwood, Mandie Napier, Rachel Osterhues,
Sophomores: Alex Covington, Meghan Moehlman, Brianna D’Alessandri, Stephanie Pike, Katie Cunha, Katherine Hayes
Freshman: Taylor Poe and Leonie Klein. Leonie and her family are returning to Germany this summer.
Our season’s match record with 7 wins and 9 losses, is not a winning record at 43%, however, what the numbers do not show is the success this young team has accomplished this season.
1. Team Conference III Champions winning over Beechwood, Calvary Christian and Bellevue.
2. Allison Due and Katie Cunha Doubles semi-finalist in the NKY Coaches Invitational Tournament – this is a tournament for all players other than the six from each school selected to play in the Regional tournament.
3. Our Regional Team of Singles players Alex Covington, Brianna D’Alessandri, and Doubles Teams Hirt/Greenwood and Moehlman/Pike are 2007 Team Regional Runner-ups with trophy, behind Notre Dame Academy.
4. Our No. 1 Singles player, Alex Covington qualified for the State tournament in Lexington winning the At-Large match for the third place in the 9th Region Regional Tournament.
Alex was Villa’s only player to be seeded in the 9th Region and her record for the season afforded her the #3 seeding. She pushed through the first three rounds without much difficulty putting her into the semi-finals against Notre Dame’s top player. Meanwhile Brianna D’Alessandri won her first singles match ever in a Regional Tournament and lost to a seeded player in her second round; Our #1 doubles team Hirt & Greenwood managed to win two rounds and get through to the quarter-finals. With a great draw it looked like we had an opportunity to make the semi-finals and a trip to State for the doubles team but they were not able to beat the team from St. Henry. Our No. 2 doubles team of Moehlman and Pike was probably our biggest surprise. Meghan is a strong singles player along with Brianna and Mandie, while Stephanie a beginner at the game of tennis showed that she could use her height, athleticism and aggression at the net which is a definite plus in doubles. Meghan was able to adapt her game and use her strong singles skills to compliment Stephanie and these two young ladies played tough for two rounds, finally winning a two-set tie-breaker over Beechwood to make it into the quarter-finals. While their loss in the quarter-finals was to be expected against the Notre Dame Team, their wins are something to celebrate.
With the rest of the team out of the tournament and Alex had had a tough loss to the #2 seed from Notre Dame, it came down to the At-large match for Alex against the #4 Seed from Ryle. The winner of their playoff match would go to State while the loser would have to wait another year for the opportunity. Alex played the toughest match of her life after being up 5-2 in the first set bu she couldn’t hold on and lost the set 6-7 (4); the second set also went to a tie-break but in Alex’s favor 7-6 and in the third set Alex came back after being down 1-5 in the set to win 7-5. Alex went on to the State Tournament winning her first match then losing to the #6th seed in the second round.
Special thanks to Jackie Hirt for filling in when I attended a Boys match
Blue Lightning Award – Emily Greenwood
MVP – Alex Covington
Most Improved Award – Mandie Napier
2004-2005
Coaching two teams was not part of my plan for this tennis season, however looking back I am glad that 18 young ladies had the opportunity to play, participate and experience the game of tennis. While it was “stressful” at times trying to keep my records and rosters straight between the girls team and the boys team, I take pride in the fact that I had the correct genders go to play CovCath and Notre Dame Academy.
The regular season started out very well, however, after we lost our #1 singles player, Alex Covington, to an injury halfway through the season we were unable to maintain our winning streak and ended the season 8-5. We lost the Conference III Title 6-1 with our only loss to Beechwood the eventual Conference III Champions.
At the Ninth Region Tournament Alex Covington was unable to play and 8th grader Hannah Kuykendall stepped in as our #1 singles player and secured the #5 seed position. Hannah eventually lost to NDA in a three set match in the quarter finals. Ema Iwasaki played 2nd singles and won one match and lost in the second round. VMA’s #1 Doubles team Stacey Hirt & Emily Greenwood were seeded #6 and lost in the quarter finals to NDA and our #2 doubles team Jacilyn Wulfeck & Brianna D’Allessandri lost in the first round.
None of the girls qualified for State this year. VMA’s Blue Lightning Award went to Stacey Hirt; Alex Covington received the Most Valuable Player Award and Hannah Kuykendall received the Most Improved Award. Alex Covington was also named to The Enquirer All-City Tennis Team.
The Girls Tennis Team loses two players because the families are moving out of State. Next year’s team has a lot of room for players to move in to. Many of the girls have expressed a desire to better their game in the off season. To be more competitive in the region it will take players who are willing to play year round.
