Rochester Century's Aney joins her brother on boys team seeking title

It's a certainty that the bleachers at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis will fill up to watch Rochester Century when the Panthers begin play Tuesday in the Class 2A boys' tennis state tournament.

The reason for that plays No. 1 singles for the Panthers: Senior Jessie Aney. If the name sounds familiar, it's because she won the Class 2A girls' singles championship in 2011, then paired with older sister Katie to win the doubles title the next year, then stepped away from high school tennis to focus on preparing herself to play in college.

She signed with North Carolina last fall with no intention of playing high school tennis again. But younger brother Nick is a freshman on Century's boys' team, one that looked to have a chance to end Rochester Mayo's 13-year reign as Section 1 champs. One more quality player, they believed, might be enough to bump them from underdogs to section favorites.

Eyes turned to Jessie.

"Nick kind of broke her down," said father Tom Aney. "The team thought it was one player away. At first she said no, but he worked and worked on her until she said yes. What changed her mind was the chance to play with brother. It was about family. She did it with Katie. Now she could play on the same team with her brother Nick."

Girls playing on boys' tennis teams has become more frequent in recent seasons. A good friend of Jessie's, Ingrid Neel, another nationally prominent player, played for the Rochester Mayo boys in 2011 and 2012, helping the Spartans to the 2011 Class 2A team championship.

There have been a handful of girls playing on boys' teams since, including Laura Sonday, who played No. 1 singles for South St. Paul this spring.

Aney faces a daunting task in the singles bracket. She was ranked as high as No. 6 in the state coaches association poll during the season. Amazing, considering the circumstances, but not high enough to get seeded. She will play St. Paul Como Park's Nate Parsons in the first round Thursday. If she wins, she will likely face Forest Lake's Toby Boyer, who is ranked No. 2 in the state and has played in each of the last two singles finals, in the quarterfinals.

"She's not doing it for herself," Tom Aney said. "She's primarily doing it for the team. For her, it's just another challenge."

Wayzata junior Nick Beaty, the defending Class 2A state champion, earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament, followed by Boyer, Shakopee sophomore Jackson Allen and Elk River senior Josh Gearou.

Beaty and Boyer are undefeated and most expect them to meet in the finals in a rematch of the 2014 championship match, which Beaty won in three sets.

Mounds View, which has won 18 consecutive matches since losing to Wayzata inthe first week of the season, earned the No. 1-seed in the team bracket. East Ridge,making its' second straight state tournament appearance, is seeded No. 2 and Minnetonka is No. 3