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Haggerty nets coach’s praise
By Brandon Judeh
Cardinal Mooney girls tennis coach Jimmy Leslie knows not everyone is familiar with tennis or its terms.
This is why when he talks about Kacey Haggerty, his No. 1 singles player, he often will use football and baseball terms.
Currently, Haggerty is 12-2 on the season. Nine of those wins have come via a sweep, 6-0, 6-0, and this is where the football terminology comes in.
“When I explain to someone how huge of an accomplishment that is, I compare it to a football team beating an opponent 70-0; that’s unbelievable,” Leslie said.
To make things more impressive, Haggerty is constantly matched up against the cream of the crop of local tennis players. Whether it is Warren JFK’s Lauren Lee or arguably the best player in the state, Canfield’s Allison Pavlansky, Haggerty is always up for the challenge.
Haggerty may not have the most powerful swing in the sport, but it’s her wisdom and use of the entire court that helps her outplay her opponents.
This is where Leslie uses baseball analogies to describe her style of play.
“Kacey literally uses the whole court, not just the back lines or corners,” Leslie said. “A lot of her opponents are power hitters and try to get her to play their game, but she uses a good mix of off-speed hits to get them out of their game.”
Leslie describes some of Haggerty’s hits to be curveballs and changeups,
“It’s like a power pitcher going up against an off-speed pitcher,” he said.
Youth and depth
Despite many local teams having two or three superstars at the top of their lineup, the Mooney Cardinals have seven stars.
From top to bottom the Lady Cardinals have dominant players, as Leslie describes it, their three and four players would be one and two players on other teams. Even their eight and nine girls could be two’s and three’s on any other team.
“What seems to be separating us from other teams is that we are great top to bottom, we are very fortunate in that regard, it helps everyone rise up a little more,” Leslie said.
Six of Mooney’s top seven will be returning next season, making the Cardinals not only a favorite this year, but also next.
“It looks great on paper, but you can’t rely on last year’s success,” he said. “Every season is a brand new start.”
JFK’s Guliano, Stroup team up
Senior Megan Guliano and freshman Maria Stroup played their first doubles match of the season together on Thursday.
Despite losing to Cardinal Mooney, JFK coach Laura Kolovich said that the two of them have been a solid number two and three all year long.
“They are two of the reasons why we started out 6-0 this season, but now it’s time to get ready for the tournament, which is why it’s time for the two of them to start playing together more,” Kolovich said.
Kolovich also acknowledged that she thinks her Eagles will meet the Cardinals once again come tournament time.
Eagles soar past a rough patch
Two weeks ago the Eagles tennis team fell victim to weather and cancellations.
After two teams canceled their matches with JFK, four more were postponed due to rain, causing the Eagles to not play for two weeks.
This left the team a little rusty.
“We tried our best to practice when we could, and we tried to stay focused by working on some team building things,” Kolovich said.
Despite being rusty in their first match back, JFK prevailed and got back into its groove.