HIGH-FLYING CARDS
— girls high school tennis —
By Joe Scalzo
CANFIELD
As Canfield senior ten- nis player Ashley Kaleel was bragging about her teammates on Monday — how they pick each other up when they’re down, how they hang out together outside of school, how they have marathon Snapchat sessions during Serena Williams’ and Roger Federer’s matches — her teammates were sitting a few feet away, shoving handfuls of red grapes into their lips in hopes of getting her to crack up during an interview.
“I love being on this team,” Kaleel said, grinning. “I wouldn’t want to be on any other team. We just have fun every day.”
Some of that is chemistry-related, sure, but some of it is because it’s a heckuva lot of fun to play on a team that bludgeons most opponents. The Cardinals have played 18 matches this season and they’ve won 17 of them by a combined score of 83-2. (Hudson and Howland each managed to win one match.)
Canfield’s lone loss came against Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown, which is ranked fourth in the latest state coaches poll and features the defending Division II state singles champion.
“We have a lot of talent at the top, but our depth, even beyond our seven that play [varsity], is still good and that makes a huge difference,” Canfield coach Rob Stephens said. “We can rotate eight, nine, 10 girls on our varsity and still be fine.”
“A lot of the girls that play JV [junior varsity] are very good, too,” senior Taya El-Hayek added. “Some of our JV players play other teams’ best girls on the varsity, even No. 1 singles, and they still win.”
Canfield’s No. 1 singles player, junior Hannah Cianciola, has teamed with Kaleel to advance to the state doubles tournament each of the past two seasons. They won their first state match in 2013 before falling to the eventual state champions, then lost in the first round last season, dropping a three-setter after winning the first set 6-1.
“We should have won,” Cianciola said, shaking her head. “We choked a little bit.”
Expectations are higher this year, with the girls looking to win two matches to advance to the tournament’s second day. They’re seeded first in next week’s Canton sectional and they believe their mixture of talent and experience will make this a special year.
“They have different styles and they complement each other so well,” Stephens said.
Cianciola is more of a power player, with a wicked left-handed serve that gives Kaleel a chance to use her quick hands on volleys at the net. Kaleel is the more emotional player — “I’m more calm and collected, Cianciola said — but it’s not like Kaleel is a racquet-thrower or anything.
“I’m a little bit more crazy than she is,” Kaleel said, “but I’ve never hit her or anything. I just try to pump her up without killing her.”
While their goal is to make it three straight state trips — the sectional tournament begins Monday — they also have one eye on the state team tournament. The Cardinals have advanced to the district semifinals, where they will meet either Rocky River Magnificat or Westlake.
“I think it happened once before, but they haven’t done it since I’ve been here and this is my eighth season,” Stephens said of playing in the state team tournament. “We’ve still got two more rounds.”
Canfield is also closing in on another All-American Conference title — the Cardinals beat Howland 4-1 on Monday — with a game at Ashtabula Lakeside today and the home finale against Austintown Fitch on Thursday.
“Everyone on this team is a good player,” Cianciola said. “We have a really strong team this year and we have really good chemistry together. We have a lot of fun, which I think helps a lot.”