Friday, May 04, 2001
Malony fills big footsteps
Molly is last of sister tennis stars at Notre Dame
By By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor
Finally, opponents must be thinking, the last of the Malonys.
The Molony family has dominated Notre Dame Academy tennis since the mid-1990s. Consider:
• Kara captured three consecutive Region 12 singles championships before teaming up as a senior with her freshman sister, Lyndsey, to win the 1997 state doubles championship and lead the Pandas to the team title.
• Lyndsey helped extend Notre Dame's string of regional championships to five by winning the singles championship as a sophomore and teaming up last season with her younger sister, Molly, to win the doubles title before falling in the state semifinals.
Now Lyndsey has graduated and followed Kara to the University of Cincinnati. Molly, a 16-year-old sophomore, is the last Molony.
“People always ask me if I like being compared to my sisters,” she said. “I say, "No.' I like being who I am and working on my game. My sisters do have a lot of accomplishments that I'd like to live up to.”
Molly and her classmate, Jackie Vilines, are among the players expected to challenge Covington Latin's Miriam Rahali, who will be trying to match Kara's streak of three straight regional singles championships from 1994-96 when the tournament gets under way May 11.
NDA coach Rob Hardin has been alternating Molly, who was 7-4 while playing some of Kentucky's top players, and Vilines at No. 1 singles in an effort to prepare both for the tournament.
Molly's tennis heritage can be traced back to her grandfather, Walter, who grew up in Covington and used to walk up to Devou Park to play. Walter, now 80, once played the legendary Bobby Riggs in the Tri-State tournament, a forerunner to today's Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati, said Kevin Molony, Molly's father.
“My dad planted the seed,” said Kevin, the managing director of the Four Seasons and Five Seasons country clubs. “He played tennis when it wasn't fashionable. He kind of passed it on to me. I picked it up in the boom years.”
Kevin played at Covington Catholic and Northern Kentucky University. He married Maria Schuler, who played for the Pandas in the 1970s before moving on to NKU.
Kevin and Maria both have worked as teaching pros and coached at Notre Dame, but they didn't push their girls into tennis.
“We always hoped that they'd participate in sports,” Kevin said. “They all played all the sports, but they gravitated toward tennis.”
“You can be an individual but, for Notre Dame, it's a team event,” Molly said. "I like it being both.”
The styles the Molonys display on the court reflect their personalities, Kevin said.
“Kara didn't want to make a mistake,” he said.. “She learned defense first, then picked up offense as she got older and stronger. Lyndsey, from day one, said bring it on. She was offense all the way and had to learn defense. They were like day and night. Lyndsey would be (4-foot-2) and she would try to serve-and-volley, and just a usual forehand would go over her head.
“Molly is a combination of both. Like any other sport, she has to recognize when she's on offense and when she's on defense.”
Hardin admits that he misses Kara and Lyndsey, just like he'll miss the entire clan when Molly graduates.
“The Molonys are a super family,” Hardin said. “They travel, they're at all the matches, and they do things for the whole team. They always try to include everybody.”
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Malony fills big footsteps
