Calvary claims conference title in tennis

TAYLOR MILL – The girls tennis team at Calvary Christian School has dominated conference play recently.

The Cougars are conference champions for three straight years now after beating Villa Madonna in late April. Calvary beat VMA 5-0 to win Division III in the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference.

“We only lost one senior from last year to graduation, and I have several girls who play year round,” head coach Eric Hogarth said. “They’re interested in tennis and that keeps them at a high level.”

Junior Lauren Bricking played No. 1 singles, and Allie Myers and Kristen North won the other singles matches. Molly Burns and Mariam Sterneberg play first doubles, and Hannah Hogarth and Kay Varnado took second doubles.

Bricking, a junior, was in her first year playing singles after a career in doubles.

“It’s taken her a long while to adjust, but she’s won three of four,” Hogarth said. “She’s turned it on at the end of the season. She’s getting the hang of playing singles and she’ll be back and get even better. The biggest adjustment for her is keeping a rally going. In doubles, the rallies are much shorter. Singles is a baseline game and sometimes rallies last 30 shots.”

Myers and Hogarth, the coach’s daughter, are senior team captains. Myers is in her seventh year playing.

Calvary had a 9-4 record in dual matches and had about five matches canceled because of weather.

“It’s been a rough year with the weather,” Hogarth said. “Most years, we have one or less canceled.”

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