Covington Catholic junior Blake Hussey, a doubles state champion with Kalei Christensen last season, finished as the runner-up in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association singles state championship on May 27.
It was another tournament finalist finish on the record for the Hussey family.
Hussey’s brother Austin was a 2013 KHSAA state champion and 2014 runner-up and brother Brady was a two-time state semifinalist and one-time finalist in state singles. Their mother, Kara, and aunts Lyndsey and Molly won KHSAA doubles championships for Notre Dame.
Hussey met Kentucky Country Day senior Charles Lewis in the finals. Lewis took both sets 6-4, 6-4 to win the state championship.
Hussey beat Ryle senior Navneeth Selvaraju in the Round of 16 6-4, 6-0. He followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win over North Oldham senior Samuel Gurevich in the quarterfinals and a 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) win over South Warren eighth-grader Haris Shahbaz in the semifinals.
CovCath juniors Tribble and Kramer fall in KHSAA semifinals
Colonel juniors Jacob Kramer and Will Tribble, the Ninth Region champions, fell in the state semifinals to Louisville St. Xavier for the second consecutive season.
Aditya Shah and Logan Elliott won the semifinal match over Tribble and Kramer 6-1, 7-5, leaving an all-St. Xavier matchup for the doubles championship. Shah was half of the pair last season that beat Kramer and Tribble before falling to Hussey and Christensen in the championship round.
Beechwood’s Neel Reddy and Andrew Dunaway lost in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-3 to a pair of seniors from Elizabethtown.
Ryle girls tennis pair Love, Selvaraju fall in quarterfinals
In the girls tournament, Ryle senior Avery Love and freshman Niveditha Selvaraju were Northern Kentucky’s only representatives ‒ singles or doubles ‒ to make the KHSAA tournament’s Round of 16.
Love and Selvaraju were victorious in their first match, beating two Boyd County seniors 6-2, 6-0. Their run ended in a tightly contested quarterfinal match with duPont Manual, dropping it 7-5, 7-5.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Covington Catholic’s Blake Hussey finishes as KHSAA tennis runner-up
Reporting by Alex Harrison, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
