Girls district tennis: Avon's Ashley DeHaven, Avon Lake's Kathleen Boatwright among nine bidding to make state tournament

There are a lot of similarities between Avon's Ashley DeHaven and Avon Lake's Kathleen Boatwright. Maybe not at first glance. Boatwright is a sophomore who stands at 5-foot-9 while DeHaven is a year older at 5-2. But the paths they took to become the top players on their respective teams are nearly identical. Both started immediately at third singles as freshmen. Surrounded by state-caliber players, both were elevated to the top spot as sophomores and now are making their first trips to the district tournament in singles. DeHaven also qualified in doubles her sophomore season. "It's been really exciting," Boatwright said. "Going from playing third singles to first is a really big jump. I'm really proud of how I handled that jump and then do something so amazing. I'm just preparing for the rest of it. Just making sure to rest while being prepared enough to play my best for the rest of the season." Nine from the area will begin their quest for a Division I state tournament bid at the Northeast district tournament held at the Springside Athletic Club in Bath Twp. today at 9 a.m. and Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Boatwright and DeHaven will compete in singles along with Amherst's Kayla Bussard and Sienna Nagy. In doubles, Avon Lake's Sara Hughes and Malaya Marijan will compete together while Magnificat's Elizabeth Ammori (Avon resident), Marissa Packer (Avon Lake resident) and Maggie Steen (Avon Lake resident) will each compete on separate teams. DeHaven is in her second season playing first singles after being the No. 3 player on a loaded Avon team her freshman year. Everyone else on the 2023 team qualified for the district tournament, and Natalie Smitek took third in the state singles draw. Even though DeHaven didn't make it to the district tournament that year, she was instrumental in helping Avon reach the district final of the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association state team tournament and was runnerup at third singles in the Southwestern Conference tournament. In the postseason, DeHaven reached the sectional quarterfinals with a pair of wins, but ran into Westlake's Amara Brahmbhatt, who'd go on to finish second in the state. With five seniors graduating from that 2023 team, DeHaven moved into the top spot. Her record didn't reflect how competitive she was. The SWC had three district qualifiers in first singles, and DeHaven finished third at the league tournament. All those tough matches helped DeHaven clinch her first district bid in doubles with partner Maddie Heun. "I learned that being consistent is really important," DeHaven said. "Some shots you may just have to put up high, into place. Not everything has to be a slam winner. I really worked in the offseason on stamina and my footwork." Last year, Boatwright was instrumental in helping Avon Lake to the OTCA district semifinals and a Southwestern Conference co-championship. The Shoregals went 7-0 in the regular season and had it not been for an unfortunate injury to their top singles player in the opening round of the SWC tournament, they would have won the title outright. Boatwright won the third singles draw at the league tournament, but lost her opening-round match at the sectional tournament. The SWC first singles pool again produced three district qualifiers this year, but Boatwright held her own and took third at the tournament. She knew it would be tough having to play everyone else's best player, but it also prepared her better for the postseason as she got a glimpse of the competition beforehand. "I had much better exposure to the competition that would be there at the sectional," Boatwright said. "I was very well exposed to really good players. That helped me realize that I did have a chance and I could fight through that, because I had some good wins in this spot." Boatwright added that the key was staying tough mentally. She tried not to get caught up in the results and instead focused on getting better and improving her game to the point where she could make a district run. DeHaven took a similar approach. The first thing she realized her sophomore year was every school has at least one strong competitor. And Avon always plays a tough schedule, so by the time she got to the postseason, she was ready. "After those big matches, I evaluate what I struggled with," DeHaven said. "Whenever we don't have matches, I really focus on what I can do better. At the beginning of the season, I was really struggling with my serve, so I've been working a lot on my serve during practices." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.