Sun staff
Bethel-Tate’s Chloe Henderson will be one of the headliners at Monday, Nov. 10’s Southern Buckeye Conference Fall Sports Banquet as the Lady Tigers’ senior tennis standout was named the National Division’s Player of the Year.
“Chloe won every league match this year,” Bethel-Tate head coach Susan Morrison said. “She’s only lost one match out of everything we’ve played.”
Bethel’s top singles player, Henderson faced some tough competition throughout the course of the regular season, which prepared her for the difficult task that is the Division II sectional tournament.
With team affiliations rendered useless in the individual nature of the event, Henderson plowed her way through the first three rounds of sectional play to earn a berth in the district tournament.
“Chloe was the fourth seed, so she had a tough lineup,” Morrison said of Henderson’s sectional draw. “On Friday, she had to play the top seed from Cincinnati Country Day (in the semifinals) and she lost, but she won her third-place match.”
A third-place finish granted her a three seed in the district tournament, however, a first-round matchup with eventual district runner-up and state qualifier Jillian Milano of Dayton Carroll ended Henderson’s run.
“Being her last year, (Henderson) wanted to go out with a bang,” Morrison said. “She showed that (Bethel) is a small town, but we can really play tennis. We don’t get this opportunity that much, but we pulled together as a community to support Chloe.”
On the conference honor roll, Henderson was joined by teammate Tabitha Jackson on the First Team as well as Clermont Northeastern’s Chandra Griffis, Felicity’s Amanda Carnahan and Paige Kessen and Blanchester’s quartet of Brooke Jones, Abby Gundler, Abby Wilson and Brooke Honaker.
The Lady Wildcats’ Heather O’Neil was a Second Team selection along with CNE’s Skyler Askren.
Blan won the National Division team title with a 6-0 record and the Lady Wildcats’ head coach, Mark Baughman, was named Coach of the Year.
In the American Division, Western Brown won their second consecutive league title and as a result, claimed both individual awards; senior Morgan Fischer was named Player of the Year and head coach Max Vavilov was voted Coach of the Year.
On the First Team, Fischer was joined by teammates Hannah Keller, Hannah Bishop and Kasi Boyd, Amelia’s Rachel Dapper and Allison Reardon, Batavia’s Dana Wahl, Goshen’s Jenna Staehling, Norwood’s Sara Lowery and New Richmond’s pair of sophomores, Krista Reid and Taylor Cardarelli.
On the Second Team were Batavia’s Olivia Moon, Goshen’s Jordanne Hazenfield, Western Brown’s KK Massey and New Richmond’s Lily Cahall and Laura Painter.
The Fall Sports Banquet, honoring all fall sports First Team members, will be held on Monday, Nov. 10 at Hamersville School, starting at 6:30 p.m.