Mayfield doubles team state runners-up

The Mayfield doubles team of Hannah Kassaie and Caitlyn Hsu settled for a state runners-up finish on Oct. 20, but according to their coach Alex Guthrie, there’s plenty of promise of even better days ahead.

Kassaie is a sophomore, and Hsu a junior.

At the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Kassaie and Hsu advanced to the Division I doubles state championship match, but lost, 6-2, 6-3, to Olentangy Liberty’s Danielle Schoenly and Maddie Atway.

West Geauga’s Rylie Hanford is another young area player who showed a lot of flash at the state tournament. The freshman placed third in Division II singles with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Orange’s Blessing Nwaozuzu in the consolation match.

For Kassaie and Hsu, it was an outstanding run through the postseason. Including the sectional, district and state tournaments, the duo was 12-1 and won a district championship. This after a 2017 season in which they were fifth at district, and won one match at state before being eliminated.

“Getting to the state final did exceed expectations,” said Guthrie. “They just kept going each round, and they did a great job executing. So often girls at these tournaments get run over by emotions, but they stuck to what they do well.”

What the doubles team has done well, said Guthrie, all season is perform at the net closing out points while being consistent from the baseline.

Those traits served Kassaie and Hsu well in their semifinal match Oct. 20 against Mason’s Santana Reddy and Ananya Aggarwal in a 6-3, 7-6 victory. Another highlight for Kassaie-Hsu was a first-round win over Cincinnati Ursuline’s Nina Dhaliwal and Bridget Estes, the state runner-up in 2017.

“The girls are satisfied,” said Guthrie. “They feel pretty good they got to the state final after not knowing if they would even win a match. That was a tough first-round match for them. We’re excited to see what they can do next year.”

Earlier in the day Oct. 20, Hanford lost her semifinal match to Columbus Academy’s Sydni Ratliff, 6-3, 6-0, before rebounding for a third-place finish. Ratliff finished second to state champion Nicole Gillinov of Hathaway Brown.