Playing on side-by-side tennis courts at Boone Woods, Ryle twins Yushi Okita and Kento Okita battled their respective Covington Catholic opponents in Thursday’s singles semifinals of the Ninth Region boys’ tournament with clear heads but with much on the line.
The brothers have signed to play tennis at Western Kentucky, making them Ryle’s first NCAA Division I male tennis recruits. They were comfortable in the knowledge that each had earned state tournament berths by virtue of quarterfinal victories Wednesday, but they wanted more. Their goal? Face each other in the final and help the Raiders beat the eight-time regional champion Colonels.
Yushi Okita, the second seed, moved on to Friday’s championship match with a 5-7, 6-0, 6-0 victory against CovCath’s third-seeded Haden Cotton. “I just focused on every point,” Yushi Okita said. “And I tried to exploit his backhand.”
Moments later, the Colonels’ top-seeded Stephen Schafer spoiled the twins’ dual hopes for victory by beating fourth seed Kento Okita, 6-4, 7-5.
“I had to beat Kento because if I didn’t they (the Raiders) would have stopped us from winning the region outright,” Schafer said. “All we have to do to win the region (today) is win one of the finals, either singles or doubles.”
Schafer (17-3) will attempt to hand Yushi Okita (19-0) his first loss. The players had their previous meeting suspended after two complete sets at the conference tournament with Shafer leading 3-2 in the third set.
“It’s going to be a boxing match and they are going to slug it out,” CovCath coach Al Hertsenberg said.
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