Oak Harbor senior Greg LaFountain and his younger sister, Ashley, play each other on the tennis court about once a month.

Greg is the No. 1 singles player on the Rockets' boys’ tennis team, and Ashley, a sophomore, plays first singles for the girls' team.

“We always go back and forth — she beats me sometimes and I beat her sometimes,”

Greg said. “I won the last time we played, but she beat me the time before that. It's pretty even. We usually end up getting into a fight over a call or something, so we don't play a whole match.”

Ashley was a Division II state qualifier as a freshman and won a match at last year's state tournament. Greg is a three-time district qualifier but has yet to make it to Columbus.

“She teases me a little bit about it,” Greg said. “It's just in fun.”

Greg can now do a little boasting of his own around the house. On Sept. 22, he was informed by Oak Harbor Athletic Director Drew Grahl that he had won a Silver Racquet Award certificate, presented by the Ohio Tennis Coaches' Association.

“Mr. Grahl called me down to his office and I didn't know what it was for,” Greg said. “He just told me congratulations on getting the award, and I told him thanks a lot. I was happy to get it. I've heard of it before. My dad has talked about it before. It was nice to see it in person and know that I got it.”

To qualify for a Silver Racquet Award, a student-athlete must have completed his or her junior year having earned two varsity letters in tennis and maintaining at least a 3.75 grade-point average for four semesters.

Greg, 17, who has played No. 1 singles for three years, has a 3.95 GPA. Last spring he went 21-8 and earned first-team All-SBC honors in tennis. He is also a member of the National Honor Society.

Three other Oak Harbor players have received the Silver Racquet Award from the OTCA, all in 2009. Kristina Blatt and Hannah Sigurdson were honored last fall, and Bobby Lochotzki, who is now playing tennis at Heidelberg College, won the award last spring.

Greg LaFountain's father, Oak Harbor tennis coach Rick LaFountain, said his son has always been a good student. Rick, however, said Greg and Ashley didn't take to tennis right away.

“He started playing for the first time when he was real little,” Rick said. “He started getting serious around age 10. He used to follow me around with his sister on the Fremont Ross tennis courts when I coached at Ross. He'd pick up tennis balls; he didn't like to hit much. If he and his sister would hit, we would go get ice cream. The more they played, the better they got.

“Greg played in his first tournament at 11 and he got his butt beat 6-0, 6-0. Last season, he played the same kid who beat him, a kid from Rossford, and he beat the kid soundly. I think he remembered that.”

Greg said he wants to study pharmacy at the University of Toledo.

“My mom (Connie Goldstein) was going to do pharmacy, but she decided to be a nurse instead,” he said. “I just like chemistry stuff. I kind of thought about being a doctor, but I didn't want to be in school that long.”

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