Rylee Ritter had never been past the girls 10th Region tennis quarterfinals.
Monday on her home court, the Campbell County sophomore went two rounds farther. She won the title over fellow Camel Izzy Jayasuriya, 6-2, 6-0.
A question you might ask: Is it hard to win a championship over a teammate? Ritter’s answer – yes and no.
“It depends,” Ritter said. “If it’s (someone) on your team, I felt like it was better; there wasn’t as much pressure ‘cause our school was going to be region champs regardless. But … you don’t want to beat someone you have a close relationship with.”
Campbell County coach Marca Dawn said Ritter was more relaxed on the court.
“It may be the fact that they’re teammates,” Dawn said. “You relax a little bit more playing with a friend.”
Jayasuriya, meanwhile, didn’t say a lot after the match.
“It’s hard to play someone you know so well,” she said.
Dawn smiled after the match, but she was more nervous than Ritter or Jayasuriya.
“I didn’t coach either one of them,” Dawn said. “Definitely mixed emotions. You want both of them to do well, you want them to both be excited that they’re there because they’ve earned the spot in the finals.”
Ritter broke Jayasuriya to take a 4-2 first-set lead.
“I noticed that she was struggling to run from side to side to get to balls that I was hitting deep,” Ritter said. “So I just tried to run her and hit deep balls.”
Dawn said Ritter standing just 5-foot-3 did not mean she cannot be an effective baseline player.
“She’s pretty good to get to the ball, and she can place the ball really well,” Dawn said. “Izzy’s really, really tall; she can get to a lot of balls.”
Ritter and Jayasuriya both advance to the state tournament beginning May 28. It’ll be the second trip for both.
“Last year we had a lot of fun,” Ritter said. “We both lost first round, but just the experience is really cool and really fun.”
Carpio falls in finals
In the boys singles final, Scott sophomore Mario Carpio (an exchange student from Madrid, Spain) fell to Bourbon County’s Noah Earlywine, 6-1, 6-1.
“The biggest thing with Mario is, he was never supposed to be here,” Scott coach Ryan Henry said. “He wasn’t seeded, and he beat the 4-seed (Bourbon County’s Cole Knore) and the 2-seed (Campbell County’s Noah Collins) to get to this point. So he’s been playing with house money.”
Carpio struggled to get much momentum Monday.
“I was tired, not relaxed,” Carpio said.
Carpio’s strategy for Earlywine was simple.
“I wanted him to hit backhands,” Carpio said.
Henry’s goal for Carpio is uncomplicated: win as many matches as he can.
“He’ll go in as an underdog, probably, in most of his matches,” Henry said. “If he can win a few, that would be great.”
The KHSAA state tennis tournament begins May 28 at Top Seed in Nicholasville and the University of Kentucky courts.