Hannah and Rebecca Kideckel didn’t play any doubles matches during the regular season this fall. The junior twins played in the top two singles spots for Lower Moreland.
When the league, district and state playoffs came around, however, they decided to team up. They played nine matches together and won them all, claiming doubles gold in the Suburban One League Freedom Division, District 1-2A and PIAA-2A state championships.
Hannah and Rebecca Kideckel are the Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media 2023 Girls Tennis Athletes of the Year.
“Our relationship on the court,” Hannah pointed to as a strength. “We always constantly pushed each other. We said to each other how much we want this, how much we want this all the time when things got tight. We really wanted it and we really pushed hard.”
“If I ever saw Hannah getting a little bit upset I would always cheer her up,” Rebecca said. “Same thing if she ever saw me getting a little bit upset she would always cheer me up. I think our main thing was that we were always staying positive and we had a really good attitude.”
The Lions’ 16-year-old duo faced their toughest test in the state quarterfinals against Scranton Prep’s Alyssa Wigley and Lily Lengyel. They split the first two sets, 6-3 and 6-7 (4) before falling behind 1-3 in the decisive third set. The Kideckels rallied to a 6-3 win to advance to the semifinals.
“We just had a couple really nice points,” Hannah said. “That brought up our confidence and our momentum. We broke their serve and that really helped us. It was the little things that really helped us get confidence and play lights out.”
That match lasted around three hours and ended at 10 p.m. Friday Nov. 3 at the Hershey Racquet Club. They came back the next morning, Sat. Nov. 4, and won their semifinal match at 10:30 a.m. before winning the state final later that afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
While the postseason was the only time Hannah and Rebecca played doubles matches together during the 2023 high school season, the twins still had familiarity with each other from summer tournaments, practices and more than a decade of experience on a tennis court.
“We had a lot of energy on the court always and we also played with each other a lot before so we were used to it,” Rebecca said. “We had a good relationship.”
The Kideckels started playing tennis when they were 4-years-old. The competitive tournaments started when they were 10 and they separated themselves as elite players around the time high school started.
In the postseason, Hannah played singles as a freshman and sophomore while Rebecca played doubles with their older sister, Sarah (2023 Lower Moreland graduate).
Hannah was a District 1-2A finalist as a freshman before winning the district and reaching the state quarterfinals as a sophomore.
“(Switching to doubles) was (a tough choice),” Hannah said, “but I just really wanted to play with Rebecca. It was worth it.
“Doubles helps you with singles and doing singles helps you with doubles. They are two completely different games, but with doubles you’re working on your volleys, therefore you can become a better net player and play more volleys when you’re a singles player. That actually works to our advantage.”
Rebecca played doubles with Sarah during her freshman and sophomore years. They reached the district championship both times.
Rebecca and Hannah both plan to continue their tennis careers after high school. Rebecca wants to play club tennis in college, like her sister Sarah is doing at Rochester University, while Hannah wants to play for her college’s tennis team.
Before college, they still have another year to add to their high school trophy case as seniors in the fall of 2024.
The Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media 2023 Girls Tennis All-Area Teams
First Team
Grace Piro, Central Bucks South
Emerson Selgrath, Lansdale Catholic
Hannah Kideckel, Lower Moreland
Rebecca Kideckel, Lower Moreland
Hana Nouaime, Methacton
Nicolette Agassi, Wissahickon
Yiyi Huang, Wissahickon
Second Team
Grace Klenn, Archbishop Carroll
Evie Koroly, Archbishop Carroll
Abigail Yanovitsky, Lower Moreland
Lauren Montgomery, Methacton
Honorable Mention
Abington: Jessica Chacko, Jada Young
Archbishop Carroll: Macie Schlundler
Central Bucks East: Jaimie Poon, Kate Zhangchen
Central Bucks South: Cynthia Zhang
Dock Mennonite Academy: Yebeen Lee, Cindy Tong
Germantown Academy: Jessica Wang
Jenkintown: Dawn Kotasenski, Savannah Luig
Lansdale Catholic: Sabrina Gambale
Lower Moreland: Anya Yang
Methacton: Anika Suresh, Claire Montgomery, Chelsea Lian
Mount Saint Joseph Academy: Paige Mattle, Lily McGann, Natalie Reynolds
Quakertown: Maddy Mahenty
Souderton: Avantika Manna, Amanda Yang, Kendra Yerger
Wissahickon: Elise Lombardot, Sevin Wang
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