Covington Catholic's Yeager, Christensen win 1st doubles title in school history

After the 2023 Kentucky state tennis tournament wrapped up at the University of Kentucky and Top Seed Tennis Club, one Northern Kentucky doubles team came away with a state title, Kelei Christensen and Alex Yeager of Covington Catholic.

Thirteen singles players and 10 doubles teams from Northern Kentucky entered the tournament six wins away from a state title. Heading into Thursday morning's semifinals, only two individuals ‒ Covington Latin's Sara Watanabe and Covington Catholic's Brady Hussey ‒ and the CovCath doubles team remained.

Here's how they fared on the final day of the tournament.

Previous tennis results:Greater Cincinnati high school sports scores, May 30-June 3

CovCath doubles team wins 1st title for NKY in 74 years

Kelei Christensen and Alex Yeager of Covington Catholic defeated Manual's Ethan Paek and Aryan Arusam 6-3, 6-3 and Dylan Dethridge/Gary Zheng (Greenwood) 2-6, 7-5, 10-7 to be the first Northern Kentucky boys doubles team since 1949.

The super sophomores from Park Hills were the last pair to finish their quarterfinal match on Wednesday but ensured that Northern Kentucky had a doubles team in the state semifinals.

The top-ranked duo defeated teams from Owensboro Catholic and Caldwell County on Tuesday, only losing three games in the process. They faced tougher tests from Paul Laurence Dunbar and Lafayette on Wednesday but were able to get past both to reach Thursday morning's semifinal.

Yeager made his second straight semifinal after he appeared in last year's tournament with Jackson Poulos, who now plays at Thomas More University. His experience came in handy as the duo faced Manual's Paek and Arusam. They got past the junior and sophomore, winning 6-3, 6-3 to become the Colonels' first doubles state finalist in school history.

After dropping the first championship match 6-2 to Greenwood's Dylan Dethridge and Gary Zheng, Christensen and Yeager rallied for a 7-5 second set win. They won the first-to-10 third-set tiebreaker 10-7 to become the first boys doubles champions from Northern Kentucky since Bellevue's Tom Qualey and Roger Otten won the trophy in 1949. It is also the first title for any Northern Kentucky doubles team since Notre Dame's Laura Irons and Catriona Shaughnessy won in 2014.

Sara Watanabe, Covington Latin

One year after losing in the semifinals to Sacred Heart's Lilah Jane Shallcross, the senior faced her again in Thursday morning's semifinals. This time, she wasted no time dispatching her opponent. She opened up a 2-0 lead in the first set and never looked back, winning 6-2.

"I need to make sure that when it's an important point or something that will change the match drastically, I have to really focus," said Watanabe, who will be a walk-on player for the University of Cincinnati.

The first set lasted one hour but the second set was much shorter. After falling behind 2-0, Watanabe stormed back with a mixture of forehand, backhand, cut shots and rollers to win six games in a row and advance to her first state championship match.

More:Covington Latin's Sara Watanabe has 1 goal for her senior season: a state championship

Watanabe's reward for defeating Shallcross was a second opponent from Sacred Heart, junior Ellie Hammond. The two know each other off the court but the match was played out like they were bitter rivals. In the end, Hammond emerged with a 6-4, 6-3 victory to give the Valkyries their fifth straight singles championship.

Watanabe became Covington Latin's first girls tennis finalist since Miriam Rahali in 1999. Despite Watanabe's run, Northern Kentucky has not had a girls singles champion since Notre Dame's Maddie Cook in 2012.

Brady Hussey, Covington Catholic

Coming off his third straight Ninth Region singles title, Hussey appeared in his second straight state semifinal. His road to Thursday morning included victories over opponents from Knox Central, Mayfield, Sayre and Manual. He got past those opponents with strong hitting and looked to continue his run against Whitefield Academy sophomore Landon Encarma.

Hussey has struggled with an ankle injury since the basketball season and that caught up to him on Thursday morning. He could never get in a rhythm, hitting multiple returns into the net. He fell behind 2-1 and could never recover, losing the first set 6-1.

"We got here early to warm up and hit and get the body going so I wasn't stiff. It just didn't work out," Hussey said.

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Hussey's second set got off to a promising start as he came back to take a 1-0 lead. A strong cheering section helped his cause, but he was unable to cash in on the support. Hussey lost six of the next seven games to drop the second set 6-2.

"I was just glad to be able to play again. We didn't know if I was going to be able to play at all," Hussey said.