Covington Catholic’s tennis team earned a split decision Thursday at the University of Kentucky.
Juniors Kalei Christensen and Alex Yeager won their second straight doubles title, a 6-0, 6-1 thrashing of Louisville St. Xavier’s Aditya Shah and Walker Bush at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center.
“It’s pretty cool,” Christensen said. “It just shows how much work we put in day in and day out.”
CovCath senior Brady Hussey, however, was not as fortunate. He eliminated St. Xavier’s William Lewis in the semifinals, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, but fell to Louisville Collegiate’s Colby Berson in the finals, 6-2, 6-4.
Hussey said his high school career was “all right.”
“I think playing full-time tennis from here on out, big things are going to happen, I believe,” Hussey said. “High school tennis is great, but there’s bigger things ahead.”
Christensen’s and Yeager’s personalities are, well, different; Yeager is the more subdued, while you could maybe hear the left-handed Christensen bellow after every winning point from Kroger Field.
Their doubles dominance was equally clear from Tuesday’s opening round – they lost just six games all week in six matches.
“A lot of chemistry,” Yeager said. “We’ve been playing together a long time.”
CovCath coach Al Hertsenberg has at least learned how to harness such diversity.
“Kalei brings the energy out of Alex,” Hertsenberg said. “And Alex brings the temperament out of Kalei. They definitely have good influence on each other, they respect each other and trust each other. To win state as sophomores and then come back and win it again as juniors is really, really impressive.”
Hussey felt great after dispatching Lewis, mostly because he had lost in the semifinals the last two years.
“I knew it would come,” Hussey said.
It didn’t come easily – Lewis broke Hussey’s serve to open the match and held his own for a 2-0 lead and was ahead, 6-5, in the tiebreaker before Hussey scored the final three points.
Hussey and Lewis traded breaks in the second set. A pair of Lewis double faults helped give Hussey a 4-3 lead, and Hussey held his serve and broke Lewis to end the match.
Berson, however, was a bipedal wall – everything Hussey tried, Berson returned, especially when Berson broke Hussey’s serve to take a 5-2 first set lead.
“I was trying trying to get in a rhythm the whole time,” Hussey said. “It just didn’t work out (Thursday).”
Hertsenberg said not having seen Berson play before the finals didn’t help.
“Brady tried everything,” Hertsenberg said. “We tried to hit with him, that didn’t work. We tried to keep him back, that didn’t work. We tried to chip and approach, and that didn’t work.”
CovCath’s next challenge: Paul Laurence Dunbar in the opening round of the team tournament at 10:15 a.m. Monday at UK. The Colonels are the defending champions.
The Colonels have a deep team besides Hussey, Christensen and Yeager. Hussey’s brother, Blake Hussey, reached the singles quarterfinals, and William Tribble and Jacob Kramer did the same in doubles.
Hertsenberg didn’t say which seven Colonels would play in the three singles, two doubles format.
“We can change it up based on strength of roster,” Hertsenberg said.
Thursday’s semifinals
Boys singles
Brady Hussey (Covington Catholic) def. William Lewis (St. Xavier), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
Colby Berson (Louisville Collegiate) def. Landon Ecarma (Christian Academy-Louisville), 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6)
Championship
Berson def. Hussey, 6-2, 6-4
Boys doubles
Semifinals
Kalei Christensen/Alex Yeager (CovCath) def. Charlie Mooney/Zachary Thompson (Lafayette), 6-2, 6-2)
Aditya Shah/Walker Bush (St. Xavier) def. Nate Hill/Quinn Maguet (Corbin), 6-3, 6-7 (7-2), 1-0 (11-9)
Championship
Christensen/Yeager def. Shah/Bush, 6-0, 6-1