OREM — They belong to what some people might call Utah County's First Family of Tennis. And all three of them play that sport for Orem High School, giving the Tigers a one-two-three punch that makes other high schools in the valley shiver with fear.
The Craigs have rampaged through Region 7 competition without so much as a hiccup, leaving all other singles players in the dust. Kaitlyn Craig is the senior. She's played for the Tigers for four years and maintains the No. 1 singles position, though she's now being pushed for the spot by her freshmen twin sisters, Callie and Kelsie.
Currently, Callie's holding down the No. 2 position, while Kelsie wraps up matches from the No. 3 spot, but all three girls can beat each other when the time is right. And they don't fear a single player in the state, making each one a good bet for a top spot at the state tournament.
If heredity has anything to do with talent, these girls are certainly blessed with tennis genes. Their grandfather Wayne Pearce, who is 70 years old, still plays in tournaments. Their mother, Leslie, was a serve-and-volleyer who hit the courts for BYU, and uncle Brad Pearce coaches at BYU but holds even more impressive credentials — he once played his way to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. For the Craig siblings, tennis has always been a family pastime.
All three girls are USTA-ranked in state, intermountain and national competition. Kaitlyn held the No. 3 state ranking last year in the 16-and-under, although all the girls have played up in higher age groups successfully, with Callie boasting the No. 4 state ranking in the 18s and Kelsie maintaining the No. 7 ranking in the 18s.
"All three of them are mentally tough and physically strong," said Leslie Craig, who introduced them all to tennis at a young age. "The twins are both really fast, and Kaitlyn has great ground strokes, hits hard, keeps her composure and has a tough serve."
The girls played in several USTA-sanctioned events over the summer and wound up playing each other four times — not such a good thing when it comes to family tennis turmoil.
"I hate to lose to them. I know how they play and it gets very competitive," noted Kaitlyn, who has been playing competitively since 12, about going up against her younger sisters.
"When we play each other there's so much intensity," added Callie. "We just want to win so much more, but it's nice to have someone to hit with all the time."
Noted Kelsie: "We all trade off beating each other. We're pretty competitive. I get more feisty, more frustrated when I play my sisters."
But that sibling rivalry stays on the court as the girls all do their own thing when they stop hitting balls for the day.
Kaitlyn is in cosmetology school in addition to high school because she's always wanted to do hair. Callie is more quiet and contemplative than her sisters, enjoying reading and writing in her spare time. And Kelsie loves scary movies and shopping with friends. But all three are good students, all three play the piano, and all three want to play tennis for BYU like their mom.
But Leslie Craig isn't like some sports parents, who push their kids to practice their athletic endeavors six to eight hours a day. She wants to make sure her girls are well-rounded and makes sure to keep tennis fun by limiting practice time. She also emphasizes school, and the three girls maintain high honor roll grades.
Kaitlyn jokes that her favorite part of tennis is buying the "cute outfits," but what she really enjoys is "passing shots — I love staying at the baseline, hitting shots and placing them just right."
She's learned a lot since her early years on the court. Her first tournaments were a wake-up call that she either needed to give up competitive tennis or practice much harder. She took the challenge and a year later was beating the same players that had hit her off the court the year before.
The twins took similar roads to stardom.
"We got killed in our first year," noted Callie. "The competitive part of me wanted to give it one year, one shot."
And now the Craig twins terrorize opponents, even the top opponents the state has to offer. But they're not your typical twins.
"No one believes we're twins," said Kelsie, who wishes she could add a few more inches to her small 5-foot frame. But it seems Callie stole most of the height as she's the tallest of the girls at over 5-foot-8.
"When we tell people we're twins they think we're joking. We don't even look at all alike," added Callie.
But though they're certainly never going to be able to take each others' spots in tournaments, all three sisters are capable of winning almost any match they play.
Region 4 tennis championships
Where: Mountain View High School
When: Sept. 28 and 29
Region 7 tennis championship
Where: Springville High School
When: Sept. 28 and 29
E-mail: jolsen@desnews.com