Who is central Ohio's regular-season girls tennis player of the year? Cast your vote
The high school girls tennis regular season is winding down, with the first sectional tournaments beginning Sept. 30.
That means it is time to help us select The Dispatch’s 2025 regular-season girls tennis player of the year from the 10 nominees below. Players were nominated either by their coaches or The Dispatch sports staff.
After reading their bios, scroll down to the ballot and cast your vote. You can vote once per hour.
Voting will conclude at noon Oct. 6. Please do not email your votes; they will not count.
In addition, look for the annual girls tennis All-Metro team in November.
Tyra Butler, Worthington Kilbourne
The senior leads the Wolves’ loaded singles lineup, winning 13 of her first 16 matches to mirror the team’s record. Butler’s resume includes wins over Pickerington Central’s Sasha Bondartsuk and Worthington Christian’s Juliette Piper, earning her the top seed in Pickerington Central’s sectional. Butler is seeking her second Division I state tournament berth and first in singles.
Soleil Cordell, Olentangy Berlin
A junior and two-time Division I state qualifier, Cordell won her first 14 matches this season without dropping a set and had 67 career victories entering sectional. Top-seeded in the Upper Arlington sectional, Cordell was Division I state runner-up last year and split two matches at state as a freshman.
Nora Grennan, Watkins Memorial
A junior in her third season at No. 1 singles, Grennan won 17 of her first 18 matches with victories over strong players from Canal Winchester, Granville, Pickerington Central, Thomas Worthington and Worthington Kilbourne among others. Grennan also is 6-0 in doubles, with two tournament championships, and is seeking her first state berth.
Ava Griggs, Canal Winchester
The senior and No. 1 singles stalwart won 17 of her first 20 matches, losing only to Granville’s Addison Eckels, Pickerington Central’s Bondartsuk and Grennan, and all of her wins were in straight sets. Ten of those involved at least one 6-0 score. Griggs is the No. 3 seed in Central’s sectional and is seeking her first state berth.
Priya Mehta, Columbus School for Girls
The senior has played No. 1 singles all season atop a strong Unicorns lineup, winning 11 of 13 matches along with a 1-0 record in doubles. Mehta, who will team with classmate Victoria Dizon for the second year in a row in the postseason, has only one loss against central Ohio competition (6-4, 6-3 to Cordell).
Alexa Roth, Upper Arlington
A junior and two-time Division I state qualifier, Roth won eight of her first 12 matches at No. 1 singles against some of the state’s top players. Roth, who reached state each of the past two years in doubles and finished fourth as a sophomore, is 7-1 against area competition with the only loss coming to Cordell. Roth is the top seed in singles at UA’s home sectional.
Gabrielle Stewart, Columbus Academy
The junior excelled at first singles, going 6-3 against a schedule including some of the area and state’s best singles players. Her wins include sweeps of New Albany’s Valentina Suslova and Worthington Christian’s Piper. Stewart will play doubles in the Division II postseason with Ella Tsao.
Valentina Suslova, New Albany
One of the area’s top singles players all season, the sophomore started 11-4 at first singles against a statewide schedule and led the Eagles to a 14-3 record and 18th consecutive league championship. The top seed in a Division I sectional at Gahanna, Suslova saw time on all three singles courts last fall as a freshman.
Ella Tsao, Columbus Academy
The sophomore was undefeated through her first 13 matches, 11-0 at No. 2 singles and 2-0 at first doubles with Stewart. That tandem will play together in the postseason and seek Academy’s second state doubles title in three years. Tsao had dropped only two sets all season entering the sectional tournament.
Emma Zerbi, Dublin Coffman
Zerbi has made immediate waves as a freshman, going 11-2 at second singles to earn the fourth seed at UA’s sectional. Her top wins include victories against Hilliard Davidson’s Madison Kline and UA’s Kylie Husted. Zerbi, who typically plays behind senior Rachanna Senthil at first singles, is the younger sister of former Wellington standout and four-time Division II state doubles qualifier Katie Zerbi.
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Vote for central Ohio’s regular-season girls tennis player of the year
