Naperville C. wins 3rd straight title at St. Charles East
There is a major reason why Naperville Central's girls tennis team recorded one of its best finishes last season since capturing the state title in 1993.
Her name is Tiffany Chen, and the defending state singles champion put her talents on display at Saturday's annual St. Charles East/Mary Carlson Invitational.
Chen, a junior who helped lead the Redhawks to a fifth-place state team showing a year ago while defeating Hinsdale Central's Isabella Lorenzini in the singles state final, downed Geneva's Kirby Einck 6-2, 6-4 to claim the top singles crown at St. Charles East.
After posting a pair of 6-0, 6-0 victories in the first 2 rounds, Chen overcame a slow start in the title match.
“Kirby played great,” Chen said of Einck. “She was hitting her shots and I was being a little tentative at first. I had to find my way.”
Chen did just that, rallying from 2-0 and 4-3 deficits in the second set to beat Einck for the second time in 10 days.
“I started off strong and then she kind of woke up and started playing her game,” Einck said of Chen. “She's really tough.”
Sophomores Zoe Comerford and Allison Yuan earned titles at third and fourth singles, respectively, as the Redhawks won the team championship for the third consecutive season with 55 points.
Naperville Central also received title-winning efforts from Sabrina Chow and Hannah Swarm at second doubles and from Maddy Kelly and Maya Fenter at fourth doubles.
Chen hopes to relive some of last year's team success this time around.
“It was very magical (last year) because our team was phenomenal,” said Chen. “We won almost every tournament and we went from conference champions to sectional champions and got fifth in the state. We lost most of our players but our team has a ton of potential. We've been doing really well so far.'
Einck, who didn't lose a game in her first 2 matches, felt she could have forced a third set against Chen.
“I set up points really well,” she said. “I had the shot and didn't execute it. I had an opportunity and I didn't take it today.
“I think that was probably the last time I'll see her before state and I'm OK with that.”
Einck's play caught the attention of St. Charles East coach Matt Bulman.
“It was fun to see an area player play that well against a returning state champion,” Bulman said of Einck.
Geneva, which finished second to Naperville Central with 51 points, had a singles champion of its own in sophomore Grace Krueger.
Krueger recorded 3 straight-set victories at second singles, capped by her 6-0, 6-3 title win over Batavia's Kate McClure.
The Vikings also received second-place efforts from Elizabeth Prendergast (third singles), Ashley King (fourth singles), Kaleigh Barnaba/Jaden Ciesielski (third doubles) and Renee Fridmann/Therese Niedbala (fourth doubles).
Third-place Benet (45 points) had a pair of doubles winners in Allison Bartley/Katie Telford (first) and Danielle Cantoni/Peyton Muehlhauser (third).
Batavia scored 40 points to take fourth, and St. Francis had 24 for seventh.
The host Saints tied for fifth (27 points) with Wheaton North, thanks to third-place showings from sophomore Olivia Gapuz (second singles) and Jenna Patzner/Michelle Eageny (third doubles).
“I was really happy with the way she performed today,” Bulman said of Gapuz. “That's the future of our singles program so I love to see something like that.”