Kansas City high school tennis stars sign with colleges. Here’s where they’re going

His young tennis career has already taken him nearly from coast to coast, but Murphy Cassone has always been aware of his roots.

Having grown up in the Kansas City area, Cassone — after blossoming into a Division I tennis prospect following his sophomore year of high school — moved with his parents to Florida two years ago. The Sunshine State is a popular destination for elite players thanks to its warm weather.

But the feel just wasn’t the same.

Cassone missed the training he’d received at the Overland Park Racquet Club, an indoor/outdoor facility that helped him mold his game. So the then-junior left Florida and returned home to live with an aunt in Overland Park, taking high school classes online while training full-time at the club with Kansas City United Tennis Academy (KCUT).

The move home has paid dividends.

Cassone, who will play tennis at Arizona State this year, was one of 12 players honored late last month by KCUT for signing a national letter of intent. And even as he moves to the desert soon, he won’t forget the people that helped him get there.

“I just liked the feel here,” Cassone said. “Before, I’d just do one or two things (well), and now it’s like all-around I can do pretty much anything on the court. And then we’ve always seen little things I need to improve, and then we just work on it right away.”

The other 11 letter-of-intent honorees featured a state-champion doubles pair — Blake Eason and Hudson Mosher of Shawnee Mission East — along with other individuals: Alison Wilcox of Shawnee Mission East (to Creighton); Randi Hendricks of Pembroke Hill (Washington University in St. Louis); Ashley Jacobsen of Olathe West (Western Illinois); Chloe Sabin of Lee’s Summit West (Millikin University); Allie Brown of Blue Springs South (Truman State); Ally Turtledove of Pembroke Hill (Hamilton College); Jimmy Andrews of Pembroke Hill (Colorado College); Hogan Stoker of Lee’s Summit West (Austin Peay) and Jackson Fenton of Shawnee Mission South (Collin County Community College).

Eason (Denison University) and Mosher (DePauw) have particularly impressive resumes. After an unbeaten senior year together that resulted in the duo winning the Kansas Class 6A doubles title, each received numerous offers from larger schools but opted to stay put at the Division III level.

Smaller class sizes fit their academic needs.

“Personally, I feel like I function better in a small class size,” Eason said. “You just get more of a focus on the student instead of like the student body. I just wanted academics to be the forefront. For me, it’s a personal choice.”

“I chose a smaller school just based on how you can go and talk to a professor a lot easier, kind of like he said,” Mosher said. “I know it helps me learn if I’m in a smaller environment.”

One of the coaches who’s been along for the ride is Elliott McDermed, also a founder and owner of Overland Park Racquet Club and the KCUT Academy. McDermed remembers when Cassone, Eason and Mosher were more reserved players trying to “find their bearings” on the tennis court.

Once they acquired trust in their respective abilities, their results improved dramatically, McDermed said.

“Over the course of the last three or four years, (they) have really grown into the people that I think they’re becoming,” McDermed said. “They’ve also become leaders, they’ve become a lot more outgoing and that’s helped them in their tennis, too, because I think that comes from confidence. They’ve really built up a lot of confidence in their abilities not just to play tennis, but to compete.”

That team aspect is what Eason and Mosher credited for an improvement in their skill-sets. They’ve spent many early mornings at the club, getting instruction. In a sport driven by solo results and performances, both are thankful that a quality group has their backs.

“Tennis is such an individualized sport,” Eason said. “Having an academy around helps you. It helps a lot and makes us feel more team-oriented.”

“You’re not alone the whole time,” Mosher said. “Having people that have oftentimes the same goals as you helps you to achieve those goals.”