Future is bright for Revere girls tennis after title run

by Sheldon Ocker

The good news for Revere High School: The girls tennis team won the Suburban League’s American Division tournament and the regular-season title. The better news: Most of the roster returns next season.

Head coach Kathy Shisler said Revere hadn’t won the conference tourney since 2014. She should know. Shisler coached that team, as well as every other Revere girl tennis team for the past 38 years.

“Revere used to play home matches at Bath Community Park because there were no courts on school property. Somebody always had to wait to play because there were only four courts [at the park] and you want to have five,” she said, adding that the district built the current tennis complex [with five courts] in 2006, adjacent to the Revere administration building.

In addition to Revere’s team achievements this year, three girls qualified for the district tournament. No. 1 singles player Sadhvi Kurra lost in the first round to the eventual district champion from Notre Dame Cathedral Latin in Chardon.

Revere’s No. 1 doubles team, composed of Ilyana Leenheer and Bridget Steiner, came within one match of qualifying for the state tournament but lost to Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy.

Kurra and Leenheer are among four juniors on the roster. The others are No. 3 singles player Julianne Choi and alternate Isabelle Owens.

No. 2 singles player Namaratha Kotagiri, who finished second in the league tournament and second in the regular season, is a freshman. So is Gabby Takla, half of the No. 2 doubles team.

The only seniors are Camille Casellas, a member of the No. 2 doubles team, and Steiner.

With no tennis program at Revere Middle School, Shisler has a more difficult job trying to track promising players. And without a middle school team, Revere girls can lose valuable years learning and practicing the sport.

What helps mitigate the deficiency are several private indoor tennis clubs in the area, among them Springside, Towpath and Paramount in Medina County.

“I’ve done clinics to get kids involved in the wintertime,” Shisler said. “For the whole month of October, while the weather is good, we have open tennis for anyone in the high school that played on the team.”

Shisler tries to generate interest among younger kids, as well.

“We do clinics in the summer so kids can be involved,” she said. “As for middle school, we’re working on getting more involvement, because those kids can get hooked on other sports early on, and we can lose some of them. Or some kids just don’t get started early enough, so they’re learning in high school. That’s a little too late to be a great player, even by the time you’re a senior.”

Shisler said most of her players take private lessons at a tennis club.

“I encourage them to get involved in tournaments or at least match play, because then they’ll be ready to play in high school,” she said. “We can’t develop them that much during the season. They have to be ready to play when they come here. They know that.”

Shisler graduated from Smithville High School in Wayne County, which had no girls tennis team then or now. But she ran track. She got hooked on tennis a different way.

Someone gifted her a Chris Evert racquet. That was enough.

Photo caption: Pictured is the Revere girls tennis team and coaches. Row 1: (l-r) Bridget Steiner, Julianne Choi, Camille Casellas, Ramanamratha Kotagiri, Gabriella Takla and Ilyana Leenheer. Row 2: (l-r) Jen Exten, Emily Bernatovicz, Isabelle Owens, Sadhvi Kurra and Kathy Shisler. Photo from revereminutemen.com.