9 things to know about Rock Hill’s young and goofy, title-chasing girls’ tennis team
1 Rock Hill High’s girls’ tennis team faces Dutch Fork at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Cayce Tennis Center for the 5A team state championship. Dutch Fork vanquished Ashley Ridge, West Florence, Wando and River Bluff, while Scott Neely’s Bearcats took down Byrnes, J.L. Mann, Spartanburg and T.L. Hanna en route to a first title match appearance.
2 High school girls’ tennis success has been limited in The Herald’s coverage area through the years. Clover won team titles in 1977 and 2003, while Rock Hill High’s Julie Davis won three straight individual titles from 1984 to 1986. She went on to play at Clemson and is a member of the York County sports hall of fame. Rock Hill has never won a state title in girls’ tennis; Dutch Fork won its only championship two years ago.
3 Coach Scott Neely’s Bearcats are incredibly young. The team has two juniors, No. 2 player Anna Sharp and No. 3 Shakendra Alston, who actually plans to graduate from high school a year early. Other than that, every other player is a sophomore or younger, including several middle schoolers. No. 1 player Robin Alston is a ninth grader and plays year-round, like most of the top-seven.
“I don’t really think age matters as much as your experience,” said sophomore doubles player Sydney McCraw, citing many of the players’ extensive offseason play.
4 Sisters Shakendra, Robin and DeAlva Alston are key contributors for the Bearcats. DeAlva said they began playing tennis after seeing Serena Williams play on TV, but they don’t copy their idol’s game.
“I play my own way,” said DeAlva, who likes to slice and cut the ball and is 14-0 in the Bearcats’ No. 4 spot.
“They all have completely different games,” Neely said. “DeDe is a spin master and Robin is your classic power, all-court player, whereas KeKe is almost exclusively a base-liner. Even their strokes are completely different, and they all have the same coach. They bring their own personalities to the game.”
5 Rock Hill’s top-five players are 109-1 in region play the last two seasons.
6 The Bearcats win some matches with the strong bottom portion of their lineup, including doubles pair Sydney McCraw and Gabby Loflin. No. 4 and 5 players DeAlva Alston and Lilly Vyas are a combined 29-0 this season. McCraw and Loflin closed out Rock Hill’s Upper State championship win over T.L. Hanna on Monday.
“I just got nervous, but I didn’t look back,” said McCraw, who was was playing on the side of the court facing away from the stands.
7 The team’s seven starters have an average GPA of 4.2.
8 Neely thinks this team’s success can be the beginning of a great run. Not only are the Bearcats young, but Neely says he’s starting to see the fruits of the Rock Hill Tennis Center. His younger girls join the program with more polish on their fundamentals.
“Some of those players that started playing there at 6 or 7 are getting to me now,” Neely said Wednesday. “I don’t care what any high school coach tells you, it’s darn near impossible to teach a kid how to play in the time that we have in our season.”
9 A loose and positive vibe is a strength for Rock Hill. Mere minutes before Monday’s state semifinal match began, three or four players were rapping along with Drake and Future over the loudspeaker. But when it was time to play, they were focused and ready.
“We don’t really put pressure on each other, the coach doesn’t really put pressure on us,” said DeAlva, an eighth grader at Sullivan Middle School. “We all kind of just like each other. We don’t really have any problems.”
Being loose is especially crucial in tennis.
“We take it serious for the warmup, but we also take some time off to laugh and just relax,” said Lilly Vyas.
This story was originally published November 11, 2016 at 4:24 PM with the headline "9 things to know about Rock Hill’s young and goofy, title-chasing girls’ tennis team."