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East doubles team earns JournalNews Player of the Year award

Pitman, Holden had strong regular seasons and teamed up to make state final in doubles.

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By Jay Morrison, Staff Writer 1:22 AM Saturday, November 21, 2009

LIBERTY TWP. — It was more of a mix-match than a mismatch when Lakota East High School tennis players Carolyn Pitman and Taylor Holden teamed up for a postseason run in the doubles.

Pitman’s fierce competitiveness and Holden’s laid-back cool worked well together, and the fire-and-nice combination came within one match of winning the Division I state championship.

That postseason performance, coupled with each of their strong regular season in singles, has earned Pitman and Holden the JournalNews Tennis Players of the Year award.

“Their two styles of play are very different, but they really compliment each other for doubles,” East coach Karen Barnes said. “We felt they had a real strong shot of going all the way to state.”

Pitman, a junior, went 18-5 in singles with one of her losses being a three-set thriller against Ursuline’s Komal Safdar, the eventual Division I state runner-up in singles. Sadfar beat Pitman 5-7, 7-5, 7-6, winning the third-set tiebreaker 17-15.

Holden, a freshman, went 19-1 in singles action, including a Greater Miami Conference championship at second singles.

In their first tournament as a doubles team, Pitman and Holden finished sectional runners-up to the Lakota West duo of Tori Turner and defending state champion Ashleigh Witte, who captured the 2008 doubles title with Amanda Lin.

The following week at the district tournament, the East and West teams met in the finals again, and this time Pitman and Holden came out on top, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

“After that our confidence just skyrocketed,” Pitman said. “Our goal at first was just to get to state, but after that we thought we could do really well.”

And they did. They won their first two matches easily by scores of 6-1, 6-0 and then 6-3, 6-0 before pulling out a 6-4, 7-6 (5) triumph in the state semifinals. But the run ended with a 6-2, 6-2, loss to New Albany’s Meghan Buell and Maddie Kobelt.

All-Area Tennis Team

Mackenzie Kaffalos, Badin — The senior finished her career by winning a second consecutive Player of the Year award in the Girls Greater Cincinnati League Grey Central Division.

Stephanie McCabe, Talawanda — The senior won her second consecutive Player of the Year award in the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Scarlet Division while going 18-5. A four-year starter at first singles, McCabe ended her prep career with a record of 65-17.

Nicole Soutar, Lakota West — The freshman went 14-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles for the Firebirds, including a Greater Miami Conference championship at third singles.

Tori Turner, Lakota West — After going 13-1 at second singles in the regular season, the freshman teamed with Ashleigh Witte and advanced to the Division I state semifinals to earn first team All-Ohio honors. Turner also won a Greater Miami Conference championship at second singles.

Ashleigh Witte, Lakota West — A senior and four-time state qualifier, Witte teamed with Tori Turner to advance all the way to the Division I state semifinals. The University of Cincinnati recruit finished her career with a record of 92-14, including a Division I doubles state championship with Amanda Lin in 2008. In addition to career wins, she also holds the school record for single-season victories (28) and was voted the Greater Miami Conference Player of the Year all four years and first team All-Ohio in doubles each of the last two years.

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