The Owensboro area had lots of representation at the 2024 KHSAA Tennis State Tournament as Apollo, Daviess County, Owensboro and Owensboro Catholic all had players compete. Owensboro Catholic also competed in the Team Tournament where both the boys’ and girls’ teams both reached the quarterfinal round before being knocked out.
AHS
Apollo had two girls qualify for state in the duo of Sophey Jennings and Ella Hayden. Jennings made her return to the tournament after having competed last year, and Hayden made her debut at state. The duo was defeated in the first round 6-2 and 6-1.
DCHS
Daviess County sent 5 players to state with all but Allessa Hall having made their first appearance in the tournament.
In girls’ singles, Hall started off strong as she was victorious in her first match winning 6-1 and 6-3. However, she was defeated in the second round 6-1 and 6-1 to be eliminated. Emmie Kate Williams was one of those who made their debut at state. However, she was eliminated in the first round after being defeated 6-0 and 6-1.
Landon McDuffee represented DC in the boy’s singles tournament. He started his state debut with a comfortable victory in the opening round as he won 6-2 and 6-0. The second round saw him eliminated after losing 6-1 and 6-1.
In boys’ doubles, the duo of Yuga Kani/Eli Bivens advanced to the second after winning their first match 6-4 and 6-3. They were defeated in the next round 6-1 and 6-0.
OHS
The Red Devils’ lone state competitor was freshman John Clay Ford. Ford opened his state debut with an intense first round that saw him fight back from a deficit to win the first set 7-6 in an 8-6. He was then defeated 6-0 and 6-1 by the eventual state runner-up. OHS head coach Clay Ford was proud of his son’s performance and looks forward to next year’s journey of making it back to the state tournament with the rest of the Owensboro team.
“I was very proud of his performance,” he said. “It was a learning opportunity for both of us. I had so much fun coaching him and watching him have that experience on UK’s stadium courts. We look forward to next year and trying to make it back to state as a team!”
OCHS
Owensboro Catholic took their whole squad to state as both the boys’ and girls’ teams qualified. The boys’ team defeated Henderson County 3-0 in the first round, but they were eliminated in the quarterfinals after narrowly being defeated by runner-up McCracken County 3-2. The girls’ team also made it out of the first round after beating Pulaski County 3-0. They were eliminated in the quarterfinals after a close 3-2 defeat against runner-up Corbin.
They had two duos in both the duos tournaments and had two in the girls’ singles tournament as well.
Leading the Lady Aces as Ella Cason who made a run to the Sweet 16. In her first match she won 6-1 and lost 6-4 before winning the tiebreaker 10-8. Cason had no trouble winning the second-round match with 6-0 victories to move on to the round of 16. Her run was halted when she was defeated 6-1 and 6-0 by the #2 seeded player. Madison Clark won her first match of her state debut with a 6-0 and 6-4 result, but she was defeated in the second round 6-1 and 6-0.
In girls’ doubles, the duo of Isabelle Reisz/Julia Marshall breezed through their first match 6-0 and 6-1, but they were defeated in the next round. They narrowly lost the first set 7-6 from a 7-2 tiebreaker and won the next set 6-3. The tiebreaker set saw them eliminated after being defeated 10-4. The duo of Elizabeth Hayden/Maddie Meyer were defeated in the first round 6-2 and 6-3.
In boys’ doubles, the Danzer duo of Houston and Cooper also made it to the Sweet 16. They had an ideal start to the tournament with two 6-0 wins to advance. They then had 6-3 and 6-0 wins to cruise into the round of 16. They were halted however, as they were defeated 6-2 and 6-2. The duo of Patrick Hauke/Joseph Merchant also did well in their first-round match as they won 6-0 and 6-1. The second round saw them put up a fight in the first set losing 7-5 before a 6-1 loss in the second set eliminated them.
