Girls state tennis: Amherst's Kayla Bussard great player and great teammate

There's a difference between being the team's best player and its most impactful player. But when they both align, it looks something like Kayla Bussard.Since joining Amherst's program in 2022, her talent has been unquestioned. She will leave as the school's all-time wins leader with 91 (and counting) and has ended a 21-year drought for the Comets as their first state qualifier in girls tennis since 2004 and the school's first singles qualifier since 1999.But perhaps her biggest impact is the one she's made on her teammates, who were texting coach Kyle Hougland constantly during the district tournament to check in on their senior leader."It's very exciting for all of us because we know how hard she works," senior Cali Smith said. "All of the stuff that she does, how much she thinks about tennis and her potential of all that she can do. It's so nice to see her, after trying so hard for all of these years, finally get all the titles to match all of her hard work."Bussard will take the court at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason today at 9 a.m. Anyone who wins both their matches will return Friday at 9 a.m. for the semifinals and placement matches. Also competing in doubles with separate partners will be Magnificat's Elizabeth Ammori, an Avon resident, and Marissa Packer, an Avon Lake resident.It's been a long journey to state for Bussard, who joined the Southwestern Conference at a time where its first singles draw was exceptionally deep. During Bussard's tenure, the league has produced multiple district qualifiers, at least one state qualifier and a state placer. Being stuck in a loaded sectional, her first district qualification came as a junior.But the floodgates opened this year. Bussard won her first 31 singles matches and carries a 33-3 overall record into the state tournament. She brought home her first Lorain County Athletic Administrators Association, Southwestern Conference and sectional titles this season.She will now try to become just the second state placer in school history, the last one coming in 1991."I wanted to get here so badly since I was a freshman," Bussard said. "It's really special that I get to be the one that does it because there are going to be so many people after me, like Sienna (Nagy), that get to go to state. I get to be the first one in a while to do it, so it's pretty cool."Nagy established herself as one of the top freshmen in Lorain County with a 24-9 record predominately at second singles. She won LCAAA and SWC titles while qualifying for the district tournament as a No. 4 seed out of the Highland sectional. Oddly enough it was Bussard who handed Nagy her first postseason loss in the sectional semifinals.However, Nagy said the most fun she had this year was when she played doubles with Bussard at the Norwalk doubles tournament, the only three matches Bussard didn't play singles. Being paired up with Bussard in practice all season has helped bring out the best in her."She's been motherly to us," Nagy said. "She just helps everybody out. She's very good at calming us down and everything. She took me under her wing and just helped me through a lot of things in the season and made me less stressed going through everything. From her, I realized I need a lot of confidence because if I lose confidence I'm going to lose. And playing against her I learned that I need to be able to hit against people who hit hard. I need to vary my technique."Both Nagy and Smith said there were multiple times throughout the season where Bussard provided the boost needed to get through a match. One that stood out for Nagy was her first match against Avon's Nora Fiest. Nagy lost the first set, but Bussard's support on the sideline helped her refocus to force a third set. While Nagy ultimately lost the match, she ended up defeating Fiest in their rematch for the second singles championship at the SWC tournament."She's always been a good leader to everybody," said senior Sadi Dorazio, Smith's partner at first doubles. "She's really inspiring. If someone is down on themselves about their own technique, she's there to help you and get through it. During matches, she cheers everybody on. She's always shown great leadership and I think that inspires everybody on the team. When she's there to cheer me on, that always picks me up when I'm doing bad. Her being our biggest cheerleader has been huge."Bussard faces a tough road to the semifinals. Her first opponent will be Upper Arlington junior Alexa Roth, the No. 2 seed out of the Central/Southeast district who took fourth in the Division I doubles draw last year. The winner of that match will play either Emma Liu (Hudson), the Northeast district champion, or Libby Goedde (Cincinnati Ursuline Academy) in the quarterfinals.Regardless of when Bussard's career comes to a close, it will surely play a part in writing the next chapter of Amherst tennis."It's always an honor just to be part of the four years of the person who is going to be the standard bearer of this program," Hougland said. "Obviously we've had state qualifiers in the past, but we've been waiting for that next person to come in and be that new age of Amherst tennis. It's been such an honor for me, and I'm sure I can speak for all my girls that they look up to Kayla so much. They love her so much, they know how much it means to her and they want nothing more for her to be so successful."Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.