Hosbein duo leads St. Vincent tennis

There is no question that the Hosbein siblings are the two best players on the St. Vincent High School tennis team. The only question is whether senior Ian or sophomore Grace is No. 1.

This spring, the No. 1 seed is Grace, who replaced her older brother in the top spot he held last season.

Both agree that Grace took over No. 1 mostly because she wanted it more. After playing No. 2 behind Ian last spring, Grace worked hard to improve her game.

“I’m the most competitive,” Grace says. “When I lose to him, I’m very upset.”

“I’m not that competitive,” acknowledges Ian. “I like to win, but I don’t have a problem losing to Grace.”

Grace also is more devoted to tennis.

“Hopefully, I can play in college, maybe at a D-3 school,” Grace says. She also plans to take lessons this summer, and attend a Nike Tennis Camp in Massachusetts when her family visits friends and relations.

While his sister has concentrated on tennis, Ian has been very involved in Scouting and outdoor activities. He has earned the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout, and he plans to attend Humboldt State University next fall, where he will study forestry.

Both students have found St. Vincent’s small-school education to be a perfect match.

“When I started in junior high, I started at Kenilworth, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it,” Ian explains. “I felt I needed a change. When I started at St. Vincent, I thought it was really hard, but today I feel very comfortable there.

Grace says that she, too, enjoys the small-school atmosphere at St. Vincent where “everyone knows everyone else.”

The Hosbeins are home-schooled in tennis, taught the game by their father, John.

“Pretty much everything we know came from Dad,” says Grace.

John is now tutoring another potentially outstanding tennis player, Nolan, 12. Grace says he has a temperament similar to her own. “He’s pretty good,” she says. “He’s very competitive.”

St. Vincent plays in the Coastal Mountain Conference against other co-ed teams, which means that Grace has played against other No. 1s, and that means boys. She has more than held her own, with only two losses. She will play only against girls in the conference championship tournament.

The Hosbeins are the leaders of a good and deep St. Vincent team coached by Mary Kate Dreyer, who is in her second year coaching at St. Vincent.

“Grace is a very good tennis player,” the coach says. “She may be the best girls player in the conference.”

Under Dreyer’s guidance, St. Vincent has a solid team of 15 players.

Senior Victor Matthias rounds out the singles lineup.

The top doubles teams are generally seniors Jonny Ji and Emma Roberti and freshmen Jonathan Carlson and Olivia Brandt.

Also contributing to the team are Alex Tustin, Ashley Jiang, Bobby Wei, Chisato Ruao, Eliza Stirrat, Mary Deasy, Sam Wieser, Cheyenne Olufs and Bean Zheng.