Milford sophomore Amanda Reinhart competes in the sectional tournament at Mason on Oct. 1.

Milford sophomore Amanda Reinhart competes in the sectional tournament at Mason on Oct. 1.
By Chris Chaney
Sports Editor

A year older and wiser, Milford High School tennis standout Amanda Reinhart will be back at the Division I district tournament on Oct. 8 at the ATP Lindner Tennis Center for the second time and this year, she’s hoping to advance through to state.

“(Reinhart) has improved dramatically since last season and she was really talented last season,” Milford head coach Claire Smalley said. “She’s only gotten better this year. She worked very hard in the offseason, improved several aspects of her game and it’s shown because she’s made it through to districts again where there was more difficult competition than last year — more talent in the singles draw.”

Coming off of a season that saw the then-freshman go 5-1 in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference and 15-4 overall, earning her First Team All-Conference honors, Reinhart went 4-2 in the ECC and 15-2 overall this season.

Entering Oct. 1’s sectionals, Reinhart’s stellar play earned her the fourth overall seed at the Mason Middle School site and the sophomore lived up to the hype.

Reinhart made easy work of her first-round opponent, Amelia’s Blake Nelson, winning a straight sets shutout. In the second round, Reinhart again won in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, over Walnut Hills’ Iris Kim.

Advancing to the quarterfinals with a berth in the districts on the line, Reinhart beat Mason’s Sanjana Datla 7-6, 6-2 to round out her first day at Mason.

Returning on Saturday, Oct. 3 for the semifinals, Reinhart earned a match up with the top-seeded player in the sectional, Sycamore’s Alexa Abele, with seeding for the district tournament on the line.

“I think that Amanda played some of the best tennis that she’s played all year (against Parker) and the score doesn’t at all reflect how close (the match) was,” Smalley said of Reinhart’s 6-0, 6-2 defeat. “It looks like Alexa had a pretty easy match and it wasn’t that way at all. Alexa just has a few more years of experience than Amanda and (Abele) was able to win those big points when it mattered.”

Relegated to the third place match, Reinhart played a familiar opponent in Lilly O’Toole of Walnut Hills, the third-seeded player at the sectional.

Reinhart dropped the first set 6-2 before winning the second, 6-4, but in the decisive third set, O’Toole was able to advance with a 7-5 win. As the fourth-place finisher at her sectional, Reinhart drew the top seed from the Troy sectional, Northmont’s Akilah Parker.

Smalley said that Reinhart has never played Parker before, but that hasn’t stopped her from setting some lofty goals heading to the home of the Western & Southern Open on Thursday.

“(Reinhart’s) goal was to make it to state this year,” Smalley said. “Last year, it was just to make it to districts. She’s upped it to make it to state and I think that’s very possible with the draw that she has gotten.

“We’re going to be working hard this week to prepare for (Parker) and she deserves this. Her hard work has paid off and we’re going to keep doing that this week and see how things go.”

Reinhart would have to defeat Parker and the winner of the Kelli Niehaus (Mt. Notre Dame) and Nicole Sturgeon (Lakota West) match to secure a top-four finish and a ticket to state.

Complete results from both the Division I and Division II tennis sectionals and districts are available on the SW Ohio district website at swdab.org.