Covington Catholic tennis coaches Al Hertsenberg, Jared Haught and Austin Hussey offered no advice during Wednesday’s Ninth Region finals. Instead, they squeezed onto a bench one court over.
They didn’t need to say anything because they saw a CovCath convention on the Colonels’ court.
Senior Brady Hussey won his fourth straight singles title, a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over his younger brother, freshman Blake Hussey. About an hour earlier, juniors Kalei Christensen and Alex Yeager defeated freshmen William Tribble and Jacob Kramer, 6-0, 6-2.
The all-CovCath finals was just the third in school history. (The others were in 2017 and 2015.)
“On one hand, it’s stress-free because we don’t have to coach,” Hertsenberg said. “On the other hand, it’s stressful because we can’t coach.”
Whichever hand Hertsenberg – or anyone else – chose, CovCath’s dominance was apparent. The Husseys, Christensen, Yeager, Kramer and Tribble lost only seven games through the semifinals.
Brady Hussey has also reached the state singles semifinals the last two years.
“Brady’s so much more prepared for the state tournament this year than last year,” Hertsenberg said. “His accuracy, he’s stronger … his movement on the court, he’s such a different player this year.”
You may remember Brady Hussey for what he did on the basketball court this season – he averaged 13.7 points a game and hit 46.8% of his 3-pointers. What seemed apparent about his tennis game was the more powerful serve; he said not having any basketball injuries helped.
“Serve’s feeling really good right now,” Brady said. “I’d say we have 5 mph (more) than last year.”
Blake Hussey is the youngest member of one of Northern Kentucky’s most prominent tennis families. There’s Brady, Austin, his mom, Kara Molony-Hussey and two aunts, Notre Dame coach Lyndsey Maynard and Molly Greene.
“(Blake’s) not shied away from competitions,” Hertsenberg said. “He couldn’t his whole life. He’s level-headed … It takes a lot to rattle both Brady and Blake.”
“Nothing’s given to you,” Blake Hussey said. “ … You’ve got to work as hard as anyone else.”
Blake Hussey likely didn’t feel really good on Wednesday.
“I mean, some of those serves you can’t defend,” he said. “Some of them, going out wide, even at the college level, I feel (they) would be hard to return.”
Hertsenberg said Tribble and Kramer deserve equal respect.
“These two freshmen come in, I don’t think either of them wanted to play doubles, but they bought in, and they’re very coachable,” Hertsenberg said. “And their confidence in the last two weeks, I think, has just soared.”
Christensen and Yeager are the defending state doubles champions, which means little to Christensen now. “Point by point,” Christensen said. “We just prepare every practice.”
Under a new format, CovCath – the defending state team champion – is the top seed in the regional team tournament that begins, weather permitting, Friday at CovCath and Tower Park in Fort Thomas.
Brady Hussey said it would be “awesome” for CovCath to become the first school other than Louisville St. Xavier to repeat as state champion since Trinity won three from 1991-93.
“We’ve worked way harder than we did last year for this year,” Brady Hussey said. “We know it’s not going to be easy. We really like our team right now.”
In doubles, Colin McClure and Griffin Derry of Dixie Heights and Ryle’s Ben Baker and Navneeth Selvaraju also advance to the state tournament beginning May 28. Highlands’ Eli Back and Villa Madonna’s Shayaan Ahmad made the singles field.
The girls Ninth Region finals begin at 4 p.m. Thursday at Tower Park.
In Wednesday’s singles semifinals, Cooper’s Kayla Johnson, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Ryle’s Kyah Andros, meets Beechwood’s Sadie Jones, who eliminated Maja Oldemanns of Highlands, 6-4, 6-2.
In doubles, it’s Ryle’s Avery Love and Nive Selvaraju, a 6-1, 6-4 semifinal winner over Notre Dame’s Lucy Bailey and Bella McElwee, against the Pandas’ Clare Shay and Sam Spellman, who eliminated Cassidy Derry and Emma Zimmer of Dixie Heights, 6-2, 6-0.
