“I said, ‘What do I play now?” said McNeil, who saw similarities in tennis and softball. “It’s another yellow ball so why not?”
McNeil has been crushing the ball — on both the courts and the diamonds — ever since. The Greenon senior entered Tuesday’s opening round of the Division II sectional tournament as the No. 1 seed. She won three matches to improve to 25-0 and reach this Saturday’s semifinal round. Reaching the semis also qualified McNeil for her second straight trip to the district tournament.
Not bad for taking up the sport not long before her freshman season.
McNeil started her career at No. 2 doubles. She’s since played No. 1 singles for the Knights the past three seasons, going 8-6 her sophomore year, 17-4 her junior year and 25-0 this season.
She took some lumps that sophomore season playing against mostly juniors and seniors. But it resulted in her breakout campaign in 2015 and now this year’s run that seemed all but improbable just four years ago.
“Nooo,” McNeil said when asked if she saw this season coming as a freshman. “Probably last year I realized I wasn’t too bad at this and might want to keep going.
“I learned a lot from the older girls who have graduated that I had to play (as a sophomore). It made me better.”
As did Greenon coach Harold Fitch’s advice.
“His two words of advice were: hit it over the net and hit it where they’re not. That’s what he gave me,” McNeil said, smiling — and perhaps playfully rolling her eyes — at the memory. “I still use it.”
McNeil has rolled through the season dispatching all but one opponent in two sets. Fairborn’s Brooklyn Hunter is the only player to take McNeil to three.
The top seed in the sectional tournament wasn’t a surprise for McNeil, but she also didn’t assume it was hers.
“It’s pretty cool. I was hoping for it but there are a lot of other girls who had good seasons,” McNeil said. “(My goal this season was) just to have fun. Have a good last season and just play tennis.”
Matches get tougher as McNeil moves into the sectional semifinals, then the district tournament Oct. 13 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. And, if all goes well, the state tournament after that. She’s up for the challenge, physically and mentally.
McNeil, who has a 4.186 grade-point average, plans to major in biomedical engineering at Wright State University or biology at Wittenberg.
And as McNeil ranks near the top of her class academically, there’s no question in Fitch’s mind where she ranks among the Knights’ best tennis players.
“She would rank No. 1, I think,” Fitch said. “She’s an easy kid to teach and get along with. If you ask her for something or to do something she doesn’t give you any problems.”
Off the court, McNeil stays busy. One of the special events she participates in is the Buddy Up program that teaches the sport to individuals with Down syndrome.
“It’s at (Kettering Tennis Center) and someone asked me to come one day and help out,” she said. “I helped them play tennis, play games and footwork, stuff like that.”
Added Fitch: “She’s a good kid. I wish I had about seven more.
“She’s been learning every year. She seems to not get too panicky if she gets behind. She seems to be under control all the time. For her age she’s pretty grown up.”
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