Olentangy Orange’s Ayla Hood and Lindsay Spragg groaned when they saw they were playing juniors Ashley Thai and Lauren Thai of the Hilliard Bradley High School girls tennis team in the first round of the Division I district tournament.

“They were the Division II state champions last year, so going out and playing them was a big thing for us,” said Hood, who along with Spragg lost to the Thais 6-3, 6-1 at district, which was held Oct. 14 and 15 at Davidson.

Comments like that make Ashley Thai smile.

“I kind of like it when people are scared about playing us,” she said. “People expect a lot of us and we’re ready to give it.”

The Thais, who are cousins, placed third in the district tournament to qualify for state Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22, at Ohio State. The top four singles and doubles finishers moved on.

The Thais lost to Dublin Jerome’s Sarah Stein and Lauren Bellinger 6-3, 6-3 in a semifinal and defeated Upper Arlington’s Elaine Cloern and Audrey Berger 6-1, 6-1 in the third-place match.

The Thais will be Hilliard’s only representatives in the state tournament. Davidson sophomores Natalie Hagy and Laura Hagy lost to Cloern and Berger 6-2, 6-2 in the first round.

Lauren Thai will be making her third trip to state. She reached a quarterfinal of the Division II state singles tournament as a freshman.

This year will mark the first time she has played on Ohio State’s refurbished outdoor courts. In 2009, rain forced officials to move the tournament to Elysium Tennis in Plain City. Last year, the tournament was held at Davidson while the Ohio State facility was upgraded.

Despite playing in a new division and at a new venue, Lauren Thai said the doubles team’s previous state experience will benefit the pair.

“It helps a lot knowing how much pressure you’re going to feel and knowing the situations we’re going to be in,” she said. “We’ve been practicing a lot together, so we’re doing a lot better as a doubles team. Our communication is a lot better.”

•The Hagy twins were the first Davidson doubles team to reach the district tournament since Emily Nash and Gosia Hrycyszyn in 2005.

“(Advancing to district) is a huge honor. It made us grow as a doubles team,” Natalie Hagy said. “I hope we can do this again next year.”

“When we knew we were going to the district tournament, I was so excited,” Laura Hagy said. “I’ve heard the district tournament was such a huge deal. I was on the verge of tears to have this opportunity.”

Coach Steve De Dent, whose team finished 10-4 overall, said he was proud of the way the pair played at district.

“They battled. They didn’t back away. They attacked like I wanted them to,” De Dent said. “They may think they’re the underdog, but they are not scared to play anybody.”

The Hagys were part of a youth movement for the Wildcats. Davidson loses seniors Mackenzie Donalson and Sheri Klatt but expects to return seven sophomores and one freshman.

Donalson and sophomore Emily Turner just missed joining the Hagys at district, losing to New Albany’s Meghan Letizia and Amber Lee 6-2, 6-3 in a quarterfinal of the sectional tournament held Oct. 6 and 8 at Davidson.

Losing in the second round at sectional were sophomore Ella Wilson to Dublin Scioto’s Jessica Xu 6-3, 6-2 and sophomore Mary Carson to Dublin Coffman’s Ashwatha Thenappan 6-1, 6-0. Losing in the first round was sophomore Megan Vela to Coffman’s Krissy Tzagournis 6-1, 6-2.

Davidson finished third (6-1, 46) in the OCC-Central behind UA (7-0, 72) and Coffman (5-2, 54) and ahead of Worthington Kilbourne (4-3, 37), Thomas Worthington (3-4, 29), Hilliard Darby (2-5, 18), Central Crossing (1-6, 9) and Westland (0-7, 3).

In the league tournament Oct. 4 at UA, Turner and freshman Rachel Yuricich placed third at second and third singles, respectively, while Donalson placed fourth at first singles. The Hagys finished third at first doubles and Carson and Vela were third at second doubles.

With several younger players expected to return next year, De Dent hopes they’ll work on their games in the offseason.

“The big plans have to come from the girls. They have to get out and hit the ball in the offseason,” he said.