By: Marc Hardin, prepsports@enquirer.com
Anthony Bosch, Covington Catholic's No. 1 singles player, won his opening round matchup.
The Ninth Region boys' tennis team tournament opened Monday with a marquee matchup amid a championship feel as defending champion Covington Catholic and Conner staged a rematch of the Cougars' upset win in April.
CovCath got the better of Conner this time around in a best-of-five quarterfinal, sweeping the Cougars 3-0 at Boone Woods. Conner beat CovCath for the first time in 26 years April 4.
"I don't think we gave up a game this time," Colonels coach Al Hertsenberg said of the sweep. "We're at the top of the bracket now."
CovCath, ranked first in The Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches' poll, plays Ryle, a 3-0 Monday winner over St. Henry, in Tuesday's semifinals at CovCath. The winner advances to next week's team final with a scheduled Wednesday championship match at CovCath.
With its team season ended, second-ranked Conner gears up for the individual tournaments. Other Monday boys' winners included Beechwood 3-1 over Calvary Christian and Villa Madonna 3-0 over Simon Kenton. Beechwood and Villa meet in the other team semifinal.
Earning a singles victory Monday for CovCath was No. 1 player Anthony Bosch, a junior. The No. 1 doubles tandem of senior Jake Haught and junior Jared Haught, and the No. 2 doubles team of freshmen Benito Trojani and Cristiano Trojani also won, precluding the completion of the No. 2 and No. 3 singles matches.
"We have a lot of respect for Conner," said Hertsenberg. "I think the two best teams in the region just played in the first round, so it was a tough matchup and a good day for us."
The win strengthened the ties that bind at CovCath, winner of 14 consecutive regional championships. The Haughts are brothers. The Trojanis are twins. Bosch missed the regular-season match against Conner with a strained neck and was elated to be back with his teammates in the second showdown against the Cougars.
"We lost to them earlier in the season and I missed it, so it's nice beating them," said Bosch, who gave a lot of credit to assistant coach Chris Eilerman for keeping him on track. "I'm used to playing back-to-back, so I'm not too concerned about the rest of the tournament. I'm looking forward to it."
With a healthy Bosch and the all-in-the-family doubles effort, the Colonels (20-3) took care of the Cougars in a little more than an hour in the first Ninth Region team tournament decided by single-elimination play. Previous tournament winners were based on a points system.
"I thought we played really well, and we're in the semifinals," said Hertsenberg, head coach since 1991. The Colonels have won 16 regional crowns since he came aboard. Last year, they were state runners-up for the second time in six seasons.
The Ninth Region boys' and girls' singles and doubles tournaments begin Thursday. The 10th Region tournaments start the same day. The Ninth and 10th Region boys' and girls' singles, doubles and team tournaments all wrap up next week.