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All-RTC4 girls tennis: Valley doubles team Hallstrom, Parker Players of the Year

Val T.
Jul 24
3 min read

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Maci Parker Karley Hallstrom

In the six-year history of naming the All-RTC4 Girls Tennis Player of the Year, somebody from Tippecanoe Valley has won it every year.

That streak continues in 2026.

Our picks as Co-Players of the Year are Karley Hallstrom and Maci Parker, the No. 1 doubles players for the Lady Vikings. They were the senior leaders for a team that made history when they beat Warsaw in the sectional semifinals.

They advanced in the doubles state tournament, one of the few teams in Valley history to advance as a doubles team.

They are the products of a system that former coaches Hunter and Emily Ackerman built and current coach Zack Shambaugh refined.

They are what happens when you combine fundamentals with toughness and a passion for the game.

The story of the season was the aforementioned Valley win over Warsaw. Warsaw had not lost a sectional match since 2000. It was a statement win in a sport in which statements are more likely to arrive from Pony Express than from an instantaneous text message.

Will Valley leverage their win over Warsaw to beef up their regular season schedule? Is beefing up their regular season schedule something they will have to do in order to take the next step as a program?

The other story of the season was the dreary weather. Teams would seemingly go weeks without playing before trying to stuff two or three matches in a brief patch of dry weather, but it never really got warm.

Hallstrom and Parker headline our All-RTC4 girls tennis team. We thank area coaches for sending us their scores and sharing their insights with us, but having said that, this list is ours and ours alone, and we take full responsibility for it.

All-RTC4

Singles

Savana Miller (Tippecanoe Valley) – Miller is both a great athlete and someone with great instincts on how to construct a point. She comes from a tennis playing family – her older sister Lydia was our RTC4 Player of the Year in 2022 – and it literally serves her well.
Olivia Bailey (Rochester) – Bailey chose not to play as a junior after suffering a season-ending hip injury as a sophomore. She returned as a senior having never played singles before, and she astounded with her consistency and placement. Bailey will play golf at the Division I level at Valparaiso, and it seemed like the poise she learned playing golf helped her in tennis.
Ellie Straeter (Rochester) – Like Bailey, Straeter also adjusted from doubles to singles and looked more and more comfortable as the season progressed. She plays a baseline game, so she needs to keep her groundstrokes deep in the court.

Doubles

Karley Hallstrom-Maci Parker (Tippecanoe Valley) (RTC4 Players of the Year) – Hallstrom and Parker communicated well, and they made each other better. They had differing personalities. Hallstrom was more outgoing, and Parker was more reserved.
Kinley Crabb-Maycee Koch (Tippecanoe Valley) – While Valley’s No. 1 doubles team graduates, the No. 2 team of Crabb and Koch will both be back. They are an extremely athletic team that was just learning the game this year.

Honorable mention singles