It was a season set up for the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers to ascend to the top of the region on the tennis courts. After seeing three returning players reach the state tennis tournament in 2019, 2020 was going to be “the year” for the Lady Tigers tennis team. However, COVID-19 double faulted the season just two days in, and regional title hopes ended up in the net.
The 2019 season saw Hopkinsville finish second in the region, and send three entries to the state tournament. Riley Fort, who finished as region runner-up, and Skylar Ray, who was one-half of a regional final four doubles team, graduated following the season. While their losses, would have been felt, the Lady Tigers were set for a big run in 2020.
Three players who reached the state tournament led the returning players for Hoptown. Sophomore Sophie Maddux was the other half of the doubles team with Skylar Ray, and figured to be one of the players in the region to have a shot to play in the regional singles title match.
Freshmen Allie Fort and Ella Lester finished as the doubles runners-up in 2019, and figured to be among the favorites to take the championship in 2020.
Sophomore Anna Maddux won a match at regional in 2019, and seemed to be ready to ascend the ladder in 2020. Greer Givens and Grasen Givens would have given even more depth to a very solid lineup for Hoptown.
In addition to all of the experienced returnees, the #1 girls seed for Christian County in 2019, freshman Ella Brown, transferred to Hopkinsville after the season, and would have been a big addition to the Lady Tiger program this year.
The good news in this for the Hopkinsville tennis program, is that the roster for 2020 had only one senior, that being Greer Givens.
The Hoptown tennis roster this year had two juniors, 9 sophomores, six freshmen, and an 8th grader. So 2021 should still be a strong season for the Lady Tiger program. But, if form had held true, 2020 was set to be a good one for this group of ladies.
With all said, we would like to salute Hoptown’s senior:
Greer Givens
