All-RTC4 girls tennis: Callahan repeats as Player of the Year

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Karegan Callahan

Tippecanoe Valley’s exit from the Three Rivers Conference meant that it was a transitional year for the conference when it came to girls tennis in 2024.

Still, our RTC4 Player of the Year remains the same – Karegan Callahan of Tippecanoe Valley.

For the purposes of compiling this All-RTC4 team, the key match of the year did not take place towards the end of the season so much as it occurred towards the beginning.

Specifically, it occurred April 9, when Callahan knocked off Rochester’s Ella McCarter in a 10-point tiebreak after they split two sets. After this match – it was Valley’s season opener – it became clear that these were the two best players in the area and that their head-to-head matchup would decide the Player of the Year honor in Callahan’s favor.

As an aside, we are listing Rochester’s Audrey Bolinger and Chloe Nichols as our top doubles team. We are aware that Bolinger was bumped up to No. 2 singles about halfway through the season, so this is a bit of a projection on our part, but we think that Bolinger and Nichols would have continued to be a productive doubles team.

We wanted to recognize Bolinger for improvement as a player.

As always, we thank coaches Adrian Paulik of Rochester and Hunter Ackerman of Tippecanoe Valley for sending their scores to us and chatting with us.

Having said that, this list is ours and ours alone, and we take full responsibility for this list.

Singles

• Karegan Callahan (Tippecanoe Valley) (Player of the Year) – Callahan is not physically imposing, but she is a great defensive player and combines that with a defensive serve.

• Ella McCarter (Rochester) – McCarter, a junior, improved by hitting with more pace with her groundstrokes without committing more unforced errors.

• Ella Sandbakken (Tippecanoe Valley) – Sandbakken made the move from doubles to singles look seamless, and her doubles experience gives her a net game that a lot of No. 2 singles players do not have.

Doubles

• Audrey Bolinger-Chloe Nichols (Rochester) – Both of these players improved greatly after last season. Bolinger moves and volleys well near the net, and Nichols was at her best along the baseline.

• Karley Hallstrom-Maci Parker (Tippecanoe Valley) – Valley mixed their doubles teams throughout the season, but their best team seemed to be when Hallstrom moved from No. 2 doubles to No. 1 to pair with Parker.

Honorable mention

• Rylee Clevenger (Rochester)

• Sienna Holder-Taylor Owens (Tippecanoe Valley)