By Rubin E. Grant
Pippa Roy has traveled extensively this summer, playing in various tennis tournaments.
At every stop, Chanel has been right there with her. And no matter how Roy has done, win or lose, Chanel has been there to support and comfort her.
Chanel is a furry friend, a 3-year-old Persian cat that has been a constant companion for Roy since she was a kitten.
“She provides stress release for me,” Roy said. “She always makes me feel better.”
Roy, a rising senior at Mountain Brook, didn’t need Chanel to make her feel better last week. All Roy needed this time was for her cat to celebrate with her after she earned North MVP honors during the fourth annual Alabama High School Athletic Association North-South All-Star Tennis Championships played in Montgomery at Lagoon Park.
Roy defeated St. Paul’s Episcopal Schools’ Grace Swain 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 1 singles match and teamed with Spain Park’s Sage Sovic to beat Juliet Galla of McGill-Toolen Catholic and Carol Murray of UMS-Wright, 6-1, 6-0, in the No. 1 doubles competition.
Mountain Brook’s Annie Lacey won No. 2 singles, defeating St. Paul’s Emme Clement 6-1, 6-2.
The North won the match 8-1, giving the North a 4-0 record in the series.
“It was fun,” Roy said. “We had some good matches and all the girls on the North team really supported each other.”
Roy is used to winning on the state level. She has won three consecutive AHSAA Class 6A No. 1 singles titles.
Even so, earning MVP in the All-Star competition was special.
“It’s a big honor,” Roy said. “I’m happy I got to represent my school and the state of Alabama.”
In two weeks, Roy will compete for the second consecutive year in the National Junior 18s Hard Court Championships Aug. 5-9 in San Diego. The winner will receive a wild-card berth into the main draw in the US Open Junior Championships Sept. 3-9 in Flushing Meadows, New York.
“It’s cool to be able to compete against some of the top players in the country with the chance of playing in a grand slam,” said Roy, who was named the 2022 Alabama Tennis Association Female Junior Player of the Year.
Already this summer, Roy has played in tournaments in Charleston, South Carolina, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Minneapolis and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
“It’s been really fun to get to play around the country,” Roy said. “It’s usually just my mom (Jane, a retired kinesiology professor), who’s my coach, my dad (Doug, an attorney) and my cat.”
Mountain Brook tennis standout Luke Schwefler earned North MVP honors.Mountain Brook MVPs
Roy wasn’t the only Mountain Brook athlete to star during All-Star week.
The Spartans’ Luke Schwefler, who won the No. 1 boys’ state Class 6A tennis crown in the spring, defeated Pike Road’s Patrick Quinn 7-5, 6-2 to help the North All-Stars win the competition 6-3.
Schwefler also teamed with Muscle Shoals’ Jackson Collins to defeat Samuel Treadwell of Trinity and Jerrick Phan of UMS-Wright 6-3, 6-5 in the No. 1 doubles match.
Schwefler earned North MVP honors as the North boys improved to 3-1 in the series, which was first played during All-Star Sports Week in 2019.
Ty Davis was named North MVP in the boys basketball game.The Spartans’ Ty Davis was named North MVP in the boys basketball game. Davis scored 13 points, sinking 3 of 4 three-pointers, and had three assists in the North’s narrow 81-79 loss to the South at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex in the 80th AHSAA North-South boys’ all-star game.
Davis, a rising 6-foot-5 senior guard, recently announced his commitment to Creighton to play in college.
Right, the Spartans’ Ty Davis
was named North MVP in the
boys basketball game.
English (US)