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Lakota West seniors Nicole Soutar and Tori Turner defeated Lakota East senior Taylor Holden and sophomore Maddy Mueck, 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-4 in the final of the district tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason Saturday.

Lakota West senior Nicole Soutar will be making her first appearance at the state tennis tournament, Oct. 19-20, after recently qualifying at districts. Photo taken by Adam Kiefaber at a prior tennis match.

Turner and Soutar will each be making their first state appearances. According to Kevin Goheen of The Cincinnati Enquirer, Turner hadn’t played for Lakota West since her freshman season, deciding instead to concentrate on USTA junior play.

“I wanted to come back and give it another try because I had so much fun my freshman year,” Turner told The Enquirer.

Meanwhile, this will be the fourth appearance at state for Holden, who competed in the singles bracket last fall.

The first two rounds of the state tournament will take place this Friday starting at 9 a.m. on the Ohio State outdoor varsity tennis courts.

Tournament play will then wrap up Saturday at Hilliard Davidson High School. Tournament play will, again, begin at 9 a.m.

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Lakota East, Lakota East High School, Lakota East Sports, Lakota East tennis, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Lakota West sports, Lakota West tennis, Maddy Mueck, Nicole Soutar, Taylor Holden, Taylor Holden Lakota East, Tori Turner

Kevin Goheen reports:

Lakota East and Lakota West doubles teams have each qualified to compete in next weekend’s state tennis tournament by advancing to the semifinals Thursday at the Division girls’ district tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

Lakota East senior Taylor Holden missed more than three weeks of the season due to injury. She has recently come back and is now advancing to the state tournament for the fourth time. Photo by Adam Kiefaber.

While, Sycamore freshmen Alexa Abele and Maggie Skwara will play seniors Tori Turner and Nicole Soutar of Lakota West in the other semifinal. Both teams were sectional champions last week.

For Lakota East’s Holden it will be her fourth state tournament appearance. Last fall, she was a quarterfinalist at singles at the state tournament as a junior.

This season, Holden has missed more than three weeks of play because of a fractured hand bone. She got medical clearance to return a week ago.

“The whole team looked to her as the experienced competitor and when she was out the girls knew that,” said Lakota East coach Karen Barnes. “She stepped right in without missing a beat.”

The first two rounds of the state tournament will take place next Friday, Oct. 19, starting at 9 a.m. on the Ohio State outdoor varsity tennis courts. Tournament play will then wrap up next Saturday, Oct. 20, at Hilliard Davidson High School. Again play will begin at 9 a.m.

Posted in: Sports |

Tags: Tags: Lakota East, Lakota East High School, Lakota East Sports, Lakota East tennis, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Lakota West sports, Lakota West tennis, Maddy Mueck, Nicole Soutar, Taylor Holden, Taylor Holden Lakota East, Tori Turner

The Lakota East girls’ tennis squad won its third straight match of the season when it defeated Wyoming, by the score of 4-1, on the road.

No. 1 singles player junior Taylor Holden (photo), for the second consecutive day, won her match 6-0, 6-0. On Wednesday, Holden defeated Wyoming’s Ashley Berg.

Lakota East improves to 4-1 on the season and was already 1-0 in the Greater Miami Conference. The Thunderhawks will be back in action Thursday and will face Colerain (4-3 overall, 1-1 in GMC) on the road at 4 p.m. Lakota East returns home to face Middletown (3-3 overall, 0-2 in GMC) Tuesday, Aug. 30, at 4 p.m.

Girls’ Tennis – Lakota West falls to Indian Hill – The Firebirds, still without their No. 1 singles player Brooke Broda (away at tournament), lost their second match of the season. Lakota West fell to Indian Hill Wednesday, by the score of 3-2. Filling in for Broda at No. 1, Lakota West junior Nicole Soutar won her match 6-1, 6-3 against Indian Hill’s Kasey Schumacher. Lakota West (1-2 overall, 1-0 in GMC) will be back in action Thursday at Middletown at 4 p.m. The Firebirds next home match will be Tuesday against Fairfield (0-4 overall, 0-2 in GMC).

Girls’ Soccer – Lakota East loses opener – Lakota East lost it season opener when it hosted Seton Wednesday night. The Thunderhawks lost by the score of 2-0. Next up, is a road match at Milford Saturday, Aug. 27, at 12 p.m. Lakota East will be back home next Thursday, Sept. 1, against Turpin at 7p.m.

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: daily sports roundup, girls' tennis, Lakota East, Lakota East soccer, Lakota East Sports, Lakota East tennis, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Lakota West tennis, Nicole Soutar, Taylor Holden, tennis

During the summer of her seventh-grade year, Sharon Danquah and her father, William, were watching tennis on television. Both enjoyed watching the sport, even though neither played.

William, who moved to the United States from Ghana just a few years before Sharon was born, would tell his daughter of players he admired – like Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. All the while, Sharon preferred to hear about today’s stars – like Caroline Wozniacki, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Then, one day, during that summer, while the two watched, Sharon told her dad she wanted to seriously play the game.

“’She said, ‘Daddy, I want to be a tennis professional,” William recalls in his thick accent. “I said, ‘Ah, it is very hard.’

“So I went to Wal-Mart. I bought two racquets, one for her and one for me. That was the first time we touched a racquet.”

William, who had played badminton and ping pong as hobbies in Africa, taught his daughter how to hold the racquet.

“We basically learned from watching,” said Sharon, who is now a freshman at Lakota West. “Me and my dad first started together and then he got much better than me because he was watching longer than me.”

William learned so much from watching television that he became Sharon’s coach, a title he held for a year and a half before recently hiring her a personal coach.

The father-daughter duo would play two, sometimes three times a day, usually practicing for an hour or two every morning and every evening. (more…)

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Brooke Broda, Bryan Skoog, Caroline Wozniacki, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Lakota West tennis, Nicole Soutar, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Sharon Danquah, tennis, William Danquah

Under new leadership, the Ursuline Academy tennis program won its season opener by the score of 4-1 against 2010 Greater Miami Conference runner-up Lakota West Wednesday at the Blue Ash Recreation Center.

Urusline’s new leader has a familiar last name and actually won all 24 of her matches as a freshman for the Girls Greater Cincinnati League champions in 2010. This fall, however, Mehvish Safdar hopes to emerge as the school’s leader after her sister, Komal, graduated earlier in the spring.

“She (Komal) was kind of the leader on the team last year and I am hoping that I can try to be the leader this year,” Safdar said. “We have a really good team this year … we won our first match and I am thinking we should go really far.”

>>>PHOTOS OF THE LAKOTA WEST AT URSULINE TENNIS MATCH<<<

Mehvish got off to a great start by defeating Lakota West junior Nicole Soutar by the score of 6-2, 6-0. She hopes it could be the start of a run for another state title.

“The experience last year was amazing, my sister had the option of playing singles or doubles … being able to win it with her was really cool,” Safdar said of winning the Division I state doubles title. “This year, hopefully I can do well again at state … maybe get a singles title and a doubles title.”

While Mehvish filled in her for her sister, who is now playing at Syracuse University, Soutar filled in for the absent Brooke Broda, who just wrapped playing in a national tournament in San Diego. (more…)

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Brooke Broda, Collen Johns, Danielle Clarke, Diana Suarez, Grace Kallenberg, Kat Rivers, Katie Dunlap, Kirsten Behreng, Komal Safdar, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Lakota West tennis, Lindsey Shaffer, Madison Dewitt, Megan Fleming, Mehvish Safdar, Nicole Soutar, Sharon Danquah, Ursuline, Ursuline tennis

Lakota West freshman Brooke Broda and Lakota East doubles pair senior Carolyn Pitman/sophomore Taylor Holden won both of their matches in the girls’ tennis district tournament at the A.T.P Tennis Center in Mason, Oct. 14. By winning two matches, Broda and the doubles pair have advanced to the semifinals of the district tournament and earned spots into the state tournament to be held Oct. 22-23 in the Columbus area.

The top four singles players and top four doubles pairs in the district tournament automatically qualify for spots in the state tournament.

In singles action, Broda cruised to the semifinals winning her first match against Mt. Notre Dame sophomore Sydney Landers 6-2, 6-0, and her second match against Springboro freshman Aundrea Busse 6-0, 6-0.

Broda’s teammate sophomore Nicole Soutar (photo) won her first match 6-4, 6-2 against Fairmont senior Kaitlin Pickrel. Soutar then had to face Mt. Notre Dame sophomore Sandy Neihaus, who defeated Soutar 6-1, 6-2. The loss eliminated Soutar from competing in the state tournament.

Broda will face Northmont senior Marianne Bonanno in a semifinal match to be played Saturday, Oct. 16. The winner of that match will then play the winner of other semifinal, which includes Neihaus and Kings freshman Amina Ismail.

In doubles play, Pitman and Holden advanced to the state tournament by defeating Madeline Tucker and Heather Smith of Mother of Mercy (6-0, 6-0) and Caitlin Riddle and Valerie Mangold of Springboro (6-0, 6-1).

Pitman/Holden, who advanced to the doubles final in last year’s state tournament, will face the doubles pair of Annie Sabo and Maggie Egan of Ursuline in the semifinal. If the East duo can advance to the final, they will like play the Safdar sisters (Komal and Mehvish) of Ursuline.

The last day of the district tournament, which will include the semifinal and final matches, will begin at 9 a.m. this Saturday.

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Brooke Broda, Carolyn Pitman, girls' tennis, Lakota East, Lakota West, Nicole Soutar, Taylor Holden, tennis, tennis district tournament

In this past weekend’s sectional tennis tournament at Mason High School, a pair of Lakota West underclassmen battled in the singles final and a pair of Lakota East teammates captured the doubles title.

Lakota West freshman Brooke Broda (photo) defeated her teammate sophomore Nicole Soutar in the singles final, 6-1, 6-1. By advancing to the final, both players have qualified to the Girls’ Tennis Southwest Ohio District Tournament at the ATP Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason Oct. 14 and Oct. 16.

The tournament win is Broda’s third in as many weeks. She had previously won the Greater Miami Conference and the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association tournaments.

Broda will begin the district tournament with a match against Mt. Notre Dame sophomore Sydney Landers, while Soutar will face Fairmont senior Kaitlin Pickrel in her first-round match. Both players will have to win at least two matches in the district tournament to advance to the state tournament.

Meanwhile, in doubles action, Lakota East senior Carolyn Pitman and sophomore Taylor Holden won the sectional title. Last year, Pitman and Holden played as doubles partners in the state tournament and advanced to the final before losing to Meghan Buell and Maddie Kobelt of New Albany.

Pitman and Holden will face the doubles pair of junior Madeline Tucker and senior Heather Smith of Mother of Mercy in their first match of the district tournament.

A total of four singles and four doubles teams will qualify from the district tournament to the state tournament, which will be held in Columbus Oct. 22-23.

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Brooke Broda, Carolyn Pitman, district tennis tournament, district tournament, Lakota East, Lakota West, Nicole Soutar, sectional tennis tournament, sectional tournament, state tennis tournament, state tournament, Taylor Holden, tennis

The first day of the Greater Miami Conference Tennis Tournament ended with the No. 1 and No. 2 singles brackets showing a Lakota East player against a Lakota West player in Saturday’s final.

Lakota East No. 1 singles player Carolyn Pitman (senior) cruised through her first two matches, as did Lakota West No. 1 singles player Brooke Broda (freshman), meaning the two players will meet in the GMC final. Earlier this month, Pitman defeated Broda 6-1, 6-4. However, last weekend in the Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association Tournament final, Broda defeated Pitman 6-2, 6-4.

In the No. 2 singles bracket, Lakota East sophomore Taylor Holden (photo) and Lakota West sophomore Nicole Soutar (photo) find themselves in the final after winning their two matches on Day 1. Holden and Soutar have not faced each other this season. In the Lakota East vs. West matchup earlier this month, Soutar was moved to the No. 1 doubles pair.

Lakota West No. 3 singles player Madison Capovilla (freshman) won two matches on the first day of the tournament and will play Mason’s Lynn Kelly in the final.

Meanwhile, in doubles action, Lakota East No. 1 duo senior Samar Sheriff and senior Taylor Stephens finished in third place while East’s No. 2 duo junior Sofey Fugate and Leeah Floyd find themselves in Saturday’s final.

The last day of the GMC Tennis Tournament will begin at 8 a.m. Oct. 2 at Mason High School’s tennis facility.

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Brooke Broda, Carolyn Pitman, GMC Tennis Tournament, Greater Miami Conference, Lakota East, Lakota West, Leeah Floyd, Madison Capovilla, Nicole Soutar, Samar Sheriff, Sofey Fugate, Taylor Holden, Taylor Stephens, tennis

Lakota West will aim to win its third straight Greater Miami Conference Tennis Tournament title this Thursday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 2 at Mason High School. Standing in the Firebirds way, will be Lakota East.

The Thunderhawks (17-1 overall, 9-0 in GMC) have dominated the GMC this season and appear to be in prime position to win their first-ever GMC title.

“It has been an incredible season for the team and we have accomplished a lot; our first undefeated season in the GMC, our first trip to the southwest district finals and our first time being ranked in the state (No. 6),” Lakota East head coach Karen Barnes said.

“We hope to keep our team accomplishments alive in the GMC tournament.”

Its senior No. 1 singles player Carolyn Pitman (photo), who has a perfect 7-0 record at the No. 1 spot in conference play this season, leads Lakota East. Pitman, who is a senior, could have to face Lakota West’s No. 1 singles player Brooke Broda (photo) in the GMC final.

Earlier this month, Pitman defeated Broda, who is only a freshman, 6-1, 6-4. However, the two met again in last weekend’s Greater Cincinnati Tennis Coaches Association Tournament final (GCTCA). This time, Broda defeated Pitman 6-2, 6-4. (more…)

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Brooke Broda, Bryan Skoog, Carolyn Pitman, GMC, GMC Tennis Tournament, Greater Miami Conference, Karen Barnes, Lakota East, Lakota West, Madison Capovilla, Nicole Soutar, Taylor Holden, tennis

The Lakota West girls’ tennis team, led by its undefeated No. 1 singles player Brooke Broda, is quietly becoming one of the area’s top tennis squads.

The squad remained perfect in Greater Miami Conference play when it swept all five matches against Oak Hills this evening, Aug. 31.

Overall, with the win, Lakota West improved to 6-2 overall and 4-0 in the GMC.

The Firebirds feature a very good singles lineup led by Broda (photo-left), who is only a freshman. Broda has yet to lose a match in her brief high school career and is considered a contender for the state singles title.

Lakota West also features another young star in sophomore Nicole Soutar (photo-right). Soutar is the team’s No. 2 singles player and has a 6-2 record this season.

Filling out the singles lineup is freshman Madison Capovilla. She is also 6-2 this season.

“To have players come out as freshmen and sophomores is something you would like to see for your program in regards to building for the future,” head coach Bryan Skoog said. “They all work hard in the offseason and come into the fall ready to play.”

For the third time this season, Lakota West swept its opponent 5-0. Broda defeated senior Maddie Bieber, 6-1, 6-1; Soutar defeated senior Jackie Ehrman, 6-1, 6-1; and Capovilla defeated junior Ashley Goebel, 6-2, 6-0.

In doubles’ play, Lakota West’s No. 1 doubles team of senior Cady McNear and junior Kat Rivers defeated junior Katie Huber and junior Megan Wittich, 6-2, 6-2; and Lakota West’s No. 2 doubles team of senior Shannon Dunn and senior Ani Mnatsakanian defeated junior Allison Keeton and Clare Byrne, 6-0, 6-1.

Next up for the Firebirds will be a home match against Sycamore at 4 p.m. Sept. 2.

Posted in: Fall sports, Schools, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Brooke Broda, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Nicole Soutar, tennis