OHSAA tennis: Bexley's Bowles, Berlin's Cordell, UA doubles team advance to state semis
Dave PurpuraBexley’s Amiya Bowles will play for her third consecutive Division II state singles championship Friday, but the junior tennis phenom did not get there without one of the stiffest challenges of her high school career.
Bowles swept past Bryan’s Caitlyn DeWitt 6-1, 6-0 in the first round Thursday at The College of Wooster but had to come from behind in a quarterfinal to outlast Gates Mills Hawken’s Dani Forte 6-3, 7-5.
Bowles, who trailed 5-4 in the second set, improved to 14-0 this season and 54-0 for her high school career entering Friday’s semifinal against Cincinnati Indian Hill’s Martha Thompson.
“(Forte) made me grind for it and fight for it,” Bowles said. “It was just a real grind, a battle, and I had to do everything I could to find a way to win. I’m proud of the mental strength I showed out there. It wasn’t an easy match. I closed well at the net and used my slices and drop shots to get the ball out of her strike zone.”
The semifinal will be a rematch of the past two state finals.
Central Ohio’s other Division II singles qualifier, Columbus School for Girls sophomore Iva Karagirova, lost to Caroline Boyle of Hamilton Badin 6-1, 6-1 in the first round. Karagirova was making her first state appearance.
CSG juniors Priya Mehta and Victoria Dizon split two doubles matches, edging Cincinnati Summit Country Day’s Katelyn Bastos and Maggie Marburger 7-5, 6-4 before losing to Ottawa Hills’ Taylor Kayse and Bryn Tangeman 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Columbus Academy senior Tamanna Arya and junior Sophie Wu lost to Dayton Oakwood’s Niobe Beiersdorfer and Mila Gelbart 6-3, 6-2 in the first round. Logan Elm senior Ally Berger and junior Kaylee Ross lost their first-round match 6-0, 6-0 to Pepper Pike Orange’s Lily Guiler and Adele Tokmazeysky.
Division I: Olentangy Berlin’s Cordell, Upper Arlington doubles team advance
Upper Arlington senior Alice Hawley and sophomore Alexa Roth remain alive for the Division I doubles championship, having won both of their matches Thursday in straight sets. They defeated Cincinnati Sycamore’s Allison Sayles and Serena Sayles 6-2, 6-3 and Perrysburg’s Penelope Giammarco and Madison Watkins 6-2, 6-2 in a quarterfinal.
Hawley and Roth will meet defending state champions Pratyusha Chaudhuri and Emma Wagner of Mason in a semifinal Friday.
Olentangy Berlin sophomore Soleil Cordell advanced to the second day for the first time and will play Sylvania Northview’s Maddie Peisley in a semifinal.
Cordell swept both of her matches Thursday, 6-3, 6-1 against Hudson’s Emma Liu and 6-2, 6-3 over Cincinnati St. Ursula Academy’s Maria Poon.
Elsewhere in Division I singles, Dublin Coffman senior Lauren Burkett beat Akron Hoban’s Haley Slay 6-2, 6-1 and lost to Mason’s Addison Cassady 6-2, 6-3. Dublin Scioto senior Amelia Kunard lost to Peisley 6-1, 6-0 in the first round.
Central Ohio’s other three Division I doubles teams lost in the first round.
New Albany senior Sophia Bojko and junior Reava Desai were swept by North Canton Hoover’s Caroline Brown and Cassie Larsen 6-3, 6-2.
Hilliard Davidson junior Madison Kline and sophomore Mackenzie Kline fell to Chardon Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin’s Elena Fleming and Ella Workinger 6-0, 6-1, and UA senior Ava Kramer and junior Dani Ball lost to Cincinnati Oak Hills’ Renee Harper and Brooke Lint 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.