Central Ohio's qualifiers to the OHSAA girls tennis state tournament were decided Oct. 8. See which players advanced.
For the most part, the contingent of central Ohio girls tennis players heading down Interstate 71 to next week’s state tournament will have a new look.
Olentangy Berlin junior Soleil Cordell, last year’s Division I state singles-runner up, cruised through two district tournament matches Oct. 8 at Upper Arlington to qualify for her third state tournament.
UA junior Alexa Roth also is going back for the third year in a row, but for the first time she will compete in singles.
Beyond them, only one big-school player bound for state Oct. 16 and 17 at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason has been on that stage before.
Watkins Memorial junior Nora Grennan and Worthington Kilbourne sophomore Addi Bennington earned the other singles berths to state.
“I’ve just tried to be consistent, outlast them and not make mistakes,” said Bennington, who defeated New Albany senior Nayana Thakkar 6-3, 6-1 to advance. “That’s always been my strategy. I didn’t really have expectations here, just tried to do my best. … State will be hard, but I am excited to go.”
Grennan became Watkins’ first girls state qualifier with a 1-6, 6-3, retired win over New Albany sophomore Valentina Suslova. Grennan lost in qualifying matches each of the past two years to Dublin Coffman’s Lauren Burkett, a 2025 graduate.
“I was really beating myself; the second set was a fresh start and I knew I needed to focus,” Grennan said. “I moved (Suslova) around, looked for the open shot and stayed patient. I figured out what affected her and just did that.”
The top four finishers in singles and doubles advance to state. Those players return to UA on Oct. 11 for district semifinals and finals.
In other singles quarterfinals Oct. 8, Cordell swept Worthington Kilbourne senior Tyra Butler 6-0, 6-2 and Roth defeated Olentangy Liberty junior Sophia Ferritto by the same score.
UA senior Dani Ball is the only doubles player with previous state experience, having qualified last year. She and classmate Sylvie Lederer earned a state berth, as did teammates Nancy Li (junior) and Emily Lin (senior), Olentangy Orange juniors Aaria Gala and Zoe Haar and Coffman’s Eknoor Kaur (junior) and Rachanna Senthil (senior).
Only two matches, both in doubles, went to three sets.
Gala and Haar advanced with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 win over Watterson senior Francie Ciesinski and sophomore Dory Scharfenbarger.
Kaur and Senthil came back to defeat New Albany seniors Reava Desai and Ella Smith 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in a qualifying match.
In the other doubles qualifying matches, Ball and Lederer swept Davidson senior Madison Kline and junior Mackenzie Kline 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 and Li and Lin beat New Albany senior Libby Pulvino and junior Anna Wilcoxon 6-4, 6-3.
CSG trio leads way to Division II state tournament
In the Division II district tournament at Columbus Academy, half of the six state qualifiers between singles and doubles are from Columbus School for Girls.
Junior Iva Karagirova had two straight-set wins to reach her second consecutive state tournament, including 6-3, 6-3 over Worthington Christian junior Juliette Piper. Karagirova will play Worthington Christian junior Elise Bourgeois in the final Oct. 11. Bourgeois qualified with a 6-2, 7-5 over Wellington junior Paige Thompson.
In doubles, CSG seniors Victoria Dizon and Priya Mehta will play Academy junior Gabrielle Stewart and sophomore Ella Tsao in the final.
Dizon and Mehta qualified with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Academy seniors Lara Wood and Sophie Wu.
Stewart and Tsao swept Wellington juniors Naomi Livits and Dea Singh 6-2, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
The district champion and runner-up in singles and doubles advance to state in Division II.
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at [email protected] and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio high school tennis OHSAA state qualifiers from Columbus area
Category: General Sports
