Rachel Nelson is OCC Player of the Year
Rachel Nelson ended Lexington's stranglehold on the Ohio Cardinal Conference honors when she knocked off Lady Lex Courtney Earnest in a three-set super tiebreaker to earn the first singles championship.With the win, the West Holmes freshman became the first non-Lexington player to win the OCC championship, garnering OCC Player of the Year honors as well. Nelson finished the season with a 24-1 record.
The Lady Knights finished second as a team behind Lexington, which claimed all four other OCC titles.
Mary Nelson, Rachel's senior sister, swept through her opening-round match 6-2, 6-1 against Wooster, and rolled against Orrville in the second round 6-1, 6-0. She dropped a 7-5, 5-7, 5-10 decision against Shaleigh McClintock in the finals.
McKenna Miller wound up finishing sixth in the tournament at third singles.
In first doubles action, Hannah Frank teamed with foreign exchange student Eva Elpers and they outlasted Orrville's third-seeded doubles team of Loren Ritchie and Sarah Johns 7-6 (10-8), 1-6, 10-8. In the second round, Frank and Elpers fell to Wooster's doubles duo before besting Madison to claim third place.
Brittany and Jenna Polen teamed up to place fourth at second doubles. They won their opening-round match against Clear Fork 6-0, 6-3, but were unable to get past Wooster in the second round and Ashland in the placing round.
Jason Otto, coach of the Lady Knights was named OCC Coach of the Year for guiding West Holmes to its second-place finish in the OCC.
Otto said he felt all along that the girls had the potential to be among the contenders in the league.