Girls tennis: With authority, Stevenson takes NSC title

After having to settle for a first-place tie with Lake Forest last year, Stevenson wanted to make sure it didn't leave anything to chance Saturday afternoon at the North Suburban Conference girls tennis meet.

And the Patriots proved they were a cut above the rest in the 14-team meet, as they easily clinched the title over the runner-up Scouts by a comfortable 38-25 score.

Warren and Libertyville battled down to the wire with the Blue Devils holding off the Wildcats 23-21.5 for third place. Lake Zurich captured fifth with 16 points.

Stevenson's road to the championship featured first-place finishes in four of the five championship matches. The Pats also had a second-place finish.

Stevenson senior Kendall Kirsch (23-0) battled it out with Warren's Karyna Bihel in the No. 1 singles title match with the Wisconsin-bound Kirsch eventually pulling away in the third set for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory.

"I just played a lot more aggressively in the third set and I had a lot of momentum," said Kirsch, who was part of a doubles state title team last year. "We have a very strong team, we're all really good friends, and it's very rewarding to win conference."

Besides No. 1 singles, the Patriots also got a crown from their No. 1 doubles team of Kaylin Dong and Zoe Taylor with a lopsided 6-2, 6-1 win over Lake Forest.

Stevenson's No. 2 doubles team of Vinaya Rao and Kate Harvey also toppled the Scouts for first place by a final score of 6-4, 6-3.

Then to top it all off, the Pats got yet another first-place finish from the No. 3 doubles team of Michelle Tulchinskaya and Gwenna Heidkamp, who made it a clean sweep of Lake Forest with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 win.

Stevenson coach Tom Stanhope was pleased with the depth his team showed and the endurance Kirsch displayed in winning her match.

"She is just a heck of an athlete. She can take a defensive game into offensive mode very quickly," said Stanhope, whose team placed fourth in the state last year. "Kendall was able to wear (Bihel) down eventually - Kendall is in really good shape - and she has the ability to do that."

In No. 2 singles, Warren senior Alex Mella outlasted Stevenson senior Zoe Manion 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to help give the Blue Devils' team scoring a needed boost.

Warren coach Vince DeSecki was happy with both the performance of Mella and the promise that Bihel showed against a top player.

"(Bihel) broke a string there that rattled her a little bit, but she showed that she can compete with one of the best players in the state," said DeSecki. "(Mella) had lost to (Manion) earlier in the year, so to come back and beat her in the conference finals is just huge."

While Libertyville's Halle Roach did lose to Grant's Gaby Schoenberg in the No. 1 singles third-place match (6-1, 6-0), the Wildcats were fantastic in going 3-for-3 in third-place doubles matches.

At No. 1 doubles, Callie Klein and Dani Blaser toppled Warren's Mikayla Schultz and Megan Waterhouse 6-4, 6-2.

At No. 2 doubles, Ola Grabowski and Tanvi Patel beat Lake Zurich's Emily Leahy and Stephanie Johnson 6-0, 6-4.

And at No. 3 doubles the Libertyville's team of Rosanna Chen and Gabby Struik did it again with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Lake Zurich's duo of Jamie Pryhuber and Maggie Hilton.

"We tend to do pretty well in the final day of the tournament," said Libertyville coach Dan Kiernan. "But Lake Forest knocked us out of contention for second place (Friday)."