It’s not that uncommon for a tennis coach to have one of the top players in the state on his or her squad, but to have two high-level caliber players is quite rare — especially when they’re sisters.
That happens to be the case for Columbus North girls tennis coach Kendal Hammel and the third-ranked Bull Dogs.
Sisters Ashlie and Kathryn Wilson are going to be the 1-2 punch at No. 1 and No. 2 singles for North the next two years with the hopes of competing for a state championship.
“There’s not a lot of players in the state that can beat these two,” Hammel said. “They’re going to have their hands full at times, but to have two of them on the same team, for us, that’s going to be giving ourselves an advantage, no doubt.”
It all began for the Wilson siblings when they first picked up tennis rackets right after they both learned how to walk.
Their mother Mary Beth Wilson played tennis at Purdue and is the general manager at Tipton Lakes Athletic Club. Ashlie, a junior, and Kathryn, a freshman, agree that their mother played a big part in making them into the tennis players they are today.
After all, it was Mary Beth that taught her two daughters the basics of tennis like how to hold a racket, serving, and hitting forehands and backhands.
“My mom always coached us growing up,” Kathryn said. “She’s definitely the reason why we’re as good as we are right now because she taught us all the basics.”
It wasn’t long after learning the basics that Ashlie and Kathryn began to practice with each other. They spent almost every day together after school to hit and practice.
Not only did they like to compete with each other for bragging rights, they learned and grew their games from each other as well.
“I think us playing against each other, we hit with each other almost every single day, so we’re definitely pushing each other and challenging each other to be the best that we can be,” Ashlie said.
Kathryn agreed and added, “We play together all the time, so it’s always competitive, but it’s also fun at the same time because you get to compete with your sibling each day, which is nice. It helps us improve because being competitive is always good and being able to help each other and coach each other at the same time.”
Ashlie was looking forward to her sophomore year of high school tennis last year until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to those plans.
Thankfully for the Wilson sisters, it wasn’t before they returned to the tennis courts when summer tennis tournaments picked back up.
They participated in International Tennis Association (ITA) tournaments at first until the United States Tennis Association (USTA) tournaments opened up following the spring shutdown last year. They continued to play in those tournaments in the fall and winter.
Ashlie won the Girls’ 18 Singles at Pearson Automotive Tennis Club in Zionsville in September and the University of Indianapolis Tournament in October. Kathryn won the Midwest USTA Level 3 in Grand Rapids Michigan in February 2020.
When the year-end 2020 Central Indiana junior rankings were released last month, Ashlie ranked third in the Girls 18s, and Kathryn was fourth in the Girls 16s.
“Although there really isn’t a team aspect with those tournaments, it still helps a lot for high school season,” Ashlie said. “But now that we’ve started the high school season, I’m definitely excited for the team aspect because that was one of the biggest things I missed about missing the season last year.”
Ashlie is hoping to play tennis at the college level after she graduates. She said she has looked into Belmont and schools locally like Butler, or possibly following in her mother’s footsteps at Purdue.
The Wilson sisters both have high expectations heading into this season. The Bull Dogs, who host Columbus East on Monday, should be in the mix to qualify for a state berth in June.
“I think that we have a lot of potential this year with the new sophomores and freshmen,” Ashlie said. “Although we lost some seniors last year, I think we’ll still be pretty good.”
Hammel is blessed to have both the Wilson sisters on the team, and the leadership of both of them should help the Bull Dogs become very successful the next two years.
“We are very fortunate. I am very fortunate as a coach to have two players like that,” Hammel said. “Any time you can go into a season and you’ve got a couple of players on your team that can pretty much take care of business all the way through. To have them on the team knowing that for the most part we can go into almost every match knowing that we’re up 2-0, we’re very fortunate to have players like that.”
