Dixie's Warden caps her comeback with a title
Brooke Warden is not a typically tall prototype tennis player, but the 5-foot-2 Dixie Heights dynamo knows how to play big and be consistent on the court while using both hands and cutting down on errors.
That was her recipe for success Thursday while upsetting the top seed and becoming the first Dixie Heights girls' tennis player in more than two decades to win the Ninth Region singles championship.
Just a few weeks following a return to the court after missing three weeks and five matches with a virus, Warden, the No. 2 seed, upset No. 1 Caroline Krumme of Notre Dame Academy, 6-4, 7-5 at Lloyd, ending the Pandas' run of five regional singles champions in a row. Warden ran her record to 10-1. Krumme, who had a 12-match winning streak snapped, fell to 15-3.
"I was just playing consistent and doing my best," said Warden, a junior. She has a top-50 USTA Ohio Valley ranking. "On Saturday (the first day of the tournament), I was still getting back, but I felt better the more I played."
Her victory sent Dixie coaches scrambling for the record books.
"It's been a couple decades, sometime in the '80s since we had one for girls," head coach Ken Chavalier said. "It's awesome to coach a regional tennis champion. I've been there with golf and basketball, and now we've got a girls' trophy for tennis after they battled so much adversity."
While Warden was out, the No. 1 doubles team got sick, leaving Dixie without its top three players, but the Colonels were all smiles Thursday. Notre Dame was hoping to sweep the singles, doubles and team championship for the sixth straight year.
The Pandas clinched a 19th consecutive team title following Wednesday's semifinals. The top-seeded doubles tandem of seniors Bess Fley and Abby Roebker defeated No. 2-seeded teammates Abigail Kennedy and Emma Hughes, 6-2, 6-2, in Thursday's final for the Pandas' 18th straight doubles championship. It was the first for Fley, a Bellarmine recruit, and Roebker, who is walking on at Xavier University. Fley and Roebker, who are distant cousins, lost in the finals last year. They improved to 11-1. Kennedy-Hughes is 8-3.
It was the 10th regional title for the Roebker family, which had two NDA girls and former Covington Catholic state champion Jimmy Roebker combine for nine. "That's really cool that I clinched the 10th one," said Abby Roebker. "We were really meshing out there."
They put the Pandas on the doorstep of another sweep, but Warden came up big for Dixie Heights by taking care of Krumme, a senior who will attempt to play for the University of Dayton next season as a walk-on. The upset for Warden, who is beginning to receive college letters, moved the Colonels into a tie with Scott for second place in the team standings, each with nine points. Notre Dame finished with 14. The runner-up will be decided by a score book tiebreaker between the Eagles and Colonels.
"We're very happy," NDA coach Rob Hardin said. "Brooke's a nice player, and it was a good singles match. But we've still got more tennis."
The Pandas play 10th Region champion Highlands in Saturday's KHSAA Girls' Sectional Tournament at Centre College in Danville, in pursuit of their fourth state championship and first since 2010. The day's first match, Casey vs. Sayre, starts at 10 a.m., and will be followed by Notre Dame vs. Highlands.
There will be an hour break before first-round winners play each other in the second round, the winner of which advances to the state team tournament.
Thursday's regional finalists and Wednesday's losing semifinalists advance to the KHSAA singles and doubles tournaments.
Beechwood senior Emily Pawsat, a doubles semifinal loser along with sister Elizabeth, won the Ninth Region Girls' Tennis Tournament Sportsmanship Award, voted by coaches.
Thursday's Ninth Region girls' singles final at Lloyd:
Brooke Warden (Dixie Heights) def. Caroline Krumme (Notre Dame Academy), 6-4, 7-5
Thursday's Ninth Region girls' doubles final at Lloyd:
Bess Fley-Abby Roebker (Notre Dame Academy) def. Abigail Kennedy-Emma Hughes (Notre Dame Academy), 6-2, 6-2.
Ninth Region girls' team standings (top three): Notre Dame Academy 14, Scott 9, Dixie Heights 9.