Kaiserslautern's Bryan Oh hits the ball during a boys doubles match with teammate Leo DiPaola against Ramstein's Elliot Radosevich and Bernie Novak on Sept. 14, 2024, at Ramstein High School on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
The Kaiserslautern Raiders girls tennis team had to shuffle its lineup heading into the season.
Gone was ace Stella Schmitz, who decided not to play tennis her senior season. Senior Abby Hover stepped into the No. 1 singles spot after three consecutive European doubles crowns.
Two of those doubles titles came with fellow senior Alisa Dietzel, who then needed a new partner.
She turned to Emma Bailey. And the duo hasn’t missed a beat.
Dietzel and Bailey looked to make it four consecutive girls doubles titles for the Raiders when they stepped onto the courts Thursday at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany, for DODEA European tennis championships.
The Kaiserslautern pair enters the tournament, which concludes Saturday, as the top seed.
“It was really smooth; it just felt right,” Dietzel said of playing with Bailey. “We just kind of get it, and it works. Even though she just got here, she fits right in. It feels like it’s always been this way.”
Bailey agreed with her new partner on their chemistry.
Transferring from Des Moines, Iowa, Bailey said she was used to a more cut-throat attitude within a team. She said at her old school, 20 players made the varsity team.
Bailey said she enjoys the more supportive attitude at Kaiserslautern and in the DODEA-Europe sphere.
“It’s a little bit different in the Department of Defense schools,” Bailey said. “The environment is great, the people are great and overall I love it. It’s been awesome.”
Bailey and Dietzel ran the table during the regular season, not dropping a single set. It was a part of a dominant season for the girls, in which Hover also didn’t lose a match as she earned the No. 1 singles seed.
The Raiders pair haven’t faced the second seed, Vicenza’s Annika Svenson and Addie Wilson. The Cougars finished runners-up to Dietzel and Hover last fall.
Bailey and Dietzel did square off with Georgia Bourtzi and Chiara D’Arrigo of SHAPE, the tournament’s third seed, on Oct. 19. The Raiders won that match 6-4, 6-1, the closest anyone’s come to defeating Dietzel and Bailey all season.
To come out on top after six matches this week, the Kaiserslautern duo will bank on that quick chemistry it had built.
“We don’t necessarily have to say anything to each other, we just kind of like get it and know what to do, telepathically communicate,” Dietzel said.
Dietzel and Bailey aren’t the only new doubles pair to make a mark in DODEA-Europe this season. Heck, they aren’t the only one on their own team.
Bryan Oh, who qualified for the European boys doubles tournament in 2023, teamed up with fellow returner Leo DiPaola, and they, too, have gone unbeaten so far. That has led to the two receiving the top seed.
DiPaola had nothing but praise for his partner, and both described their connection as the reason for their success.
“He’s a machine,” DiPaola said. “It’s great to play with him and have the opportunity to go to Euros.”
Unlike the girls team, the boys lack the experience of being the favorite in the European tournament.
They also haven’t seen many of the duos in the field. Oh and DiPaola defeated Ramstein’s Elliot Radosevich and Bernie Novak, the tournament’s second seed, 6-4, 6-4 on Sept. 13. They also squared off with Ansbach’s Bobby Lovallo on Oct. 5, but that was with his brother Jack, the sixth seed in the boys singles competition, and not Bobby’s Euros partner, Brodie Kohrs.
Rather than let that pressure get to them, though, Oh and DiPaola will turn to the three girls and fellow teammate Jace Martin, the boys singles second seed, to help keep them grounded.
“We feel pressure, but we have the support from our team,” Oh said. “I feel like that pressure is relieved off of us.”
Three-time European boys singles champion Tristan Chandler of Ramstein once again has the top seed. Martin, third-seeded Giorgio delli Falconi of Marymount and fourth-seeded Michael Gillett of Vicenza lead the field trying to unseat the Royal senior.
In the girls singles tournament, Sigonella senior Charlize Caro returns as the second seed following a runner-up finish in 2023. Ansbach’s Meredith Maxwell, the third seed, and Naples’ Liliana Stutzman, the fourth seed, will attempt to wrestle away the crown from Kaiserslautern.
SEEDING
Singles
Boys
1. Tristan Chandler (Ramstein), 2. Jace Martin (Kaiserslautern), 3. Giorgio delli Falconi (Marymount), 4. Michael Gillett (Vicenza), 5. Alejandro Cuesta (SHAPE), 6. Jack Lovallo (Ansbach), 7. Max Mercado (Sigonella), 8. Kenan Hagar (AFNORTH), 9. Cameron Holloway (Vilseck), 10. Jonathan Soito (Lakenheath).
Girls
1. Abby Hover (Kais), 2. Charlize Caro (Sig), 3. Meredith Maxwell (Ans), 4. Liliana Stutzman (Naples), 5. Bella Farias (Stuttgart), 6. Elisabeth Petrich (Lake), 7. Madelyn Hatfield (AFN), 8. Ava Parker (Vic), 9. Zoe Crawford (Vil), 10. Sandrine Bennett (Spangdahlem).
Doubles
Boys
1. Bryan Oh/Leo DiPaola (Kais), 2. Elliot Radosevich/Bernie Novak (Ram), 3. Elham Aziri/Makailer Marzec Zinn (Brussels), 4. Giovanni La Piana/Riccardo Averni (Mary), 5. Andrew Reed/Jacob McGovern (Vic), 6. Matthew Mendoza/Ja’Cori Thomas (Bahrain), 7. Erion Lord/Yoel Lord (Nap), 8. Chase Miller/Travis Miller (Sig), 9. Jack Bishop/Isaac Mason (Wies), 10. Bobby Lovallo/Brodie Kohrs (Ans)
Girls
1. Alisa Dietzel/Emma Bailey (Kais), 2. Annika Svenson/Addie Wilson (Vic), 3. Georgia Bourtzi/Chiara D’Arrigo (SHAPE), 4. Isabel Williams/Isabella Suber (Stut), 5. Sophie Rainey/Isabella Na (Wies), 6. Rita Harroum/Olivia Fischer (Nap), 7. Katie Balbo/Madison Hoy (Sig), 8. Almina Kocabas/Adrianne Chezik (Brus), 9. Koren Russell/Christina Ervine (AFN), 10. Ana Alejandro Diez/Gabriella Pantoja (Alc).
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