(Enlarge) River Hill’s Rena Shi led her team to its second straight county championship. (Staff photo by Matt Roth)

Relatively speaking, River Hill's Rena Shi got a late start to the sport of tennis. She was 10.

She tried basketball, but at 5-foot-1 even now as a sophomore, that was not a natural fit.

Growing up in Columbia, she tried swimming and soccer as well.

"But none of them jumped out at me like tennis," said Shi, the Howard County Times/Columbia Flier girls tennis Player of the Year.

Shi feels that tennis is a sport that offers an equal playing field regardless of height, and her small stature has even allowed her to catch opponents by surprise.

Often, an opponent will see her and think that they're in for an easy day, only to be stunned when their sharp cross-court forehand is returned with ease.

"She moves well, which really is a good thing with tennis. She gets to a lot of balls that opponents don't think she can get to. She has great speed and covers a lot of court," first-year coach Sarah Ward said.

Ward had heard about Shi, but did not see her on the court until practice this spring. Ward was able to pick her out of the crowd almost immediately.

"The way she hit her ground strokes, I was excited," Ward said.

In practice, Shi not only hits with sophomore Audrey Cheng, who plays No. 2 singles, but also the boys, including Oliver Wei, who finished third at the county tournament.

While Shi played No. 1 singles for River Hill as a freshman, she did not really emerge onto the scene until the girls team county title match. That's when she defeated Marriotts Ridge senior Haley Katsman to clinch the title for the Hawks that year. Katsman went on to win the county singles title.

"That was my first major match," said Shi, who opted to play mixed doubles in the postseason that year.

Shi entered this season having already made her presence known. She led her team to a dominant season as the Hawks went 14-2 and defeated Hammond for their second straight county title.

Shi then played singles in the postseason, beating Hammond junior exchange student Mandy Glanert for the girls county title. It was the second time in a week Shi had beaten Glanert.

Each time she played Glanert, though, the score got a little closer. At the regional tournament, Shi beat Glanert, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

"She was really good," Shi said. "I really enjoyed playing against so many good players."

At the state tournament, Shi won her first match convincingly in straight sets. But while practicing that night she tweaked her wrist, an injury that still has her sidelined. She hopes to start playing again by the end of June.

"She was really disappointed" that she had to drop out of the tournament, Ward said. "But she didn't want to push it. She wants to make sure she comes back at full strength."

It has been tough for Shi, who is not used to being away from the court.

"I was watching the French Open and it was really exciting," she said. "I miss it a lot."

When she does come back, Shi wants to play in several tournaments this summer to improve her USTA ranking.

In the meantime, she can spend some time relaxing with one of her other pastimes: she plays the violin in the River Hill orchestra.

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