Desai, Moritz lead WW South to DVC championship

Priya Desai and Hadley Moritz were thrust in a new role for the Wheaton Warrenville South girls golf team on Tuesday at Bartlett Hills Golf Course.

The Tigers' season-long No. 1 player, sophomore Sarah Hauenstein, injured her wrist over the weekend.

But the Tigers' duo rose to the challenge and the expected showdown between WW South and Naperville North never materialized at the DuPage Valley Conference tournament in Bartlett.

Desai and Moritz, a sophomore transfer from Indiana, were two of only three players to break 80 with their respective scores of 77 and 78 in placing runner-up and third overall.

Class AA state veterans Emma Field and Annalee Dannegger combined for a 180 for the Tigers, who easily defended their league title with a 335-356 victory over Naperville North.

Jessica Yuen will forever be an answer to a trivia question as the Neuqua Valley two-time defending state champion captured the first individual DVC championship for any of the three Indian Prairie high schools.

The Wildcats were 2 shots better than Waubonsie Valley for third place; Metea Valley, Wheaton North, Naperville Central, Lake Park and Glenbard North rounded out the field.

"The conditions were just terrible," Priya said of the windy, wet day. "I knew all the scores were going to be higher. I wasn't doing so well to start off, but getting up and down (for par) on my fourth hole really helped."

"(The other girls) have all been very welcoming," Moritz said. "I had a couple of bad holes but other than that it was pretty solid."

WW South returns five players from its reigning fourth-place state lineup.

"Don't expect to shoot those scores again," WW South coach Art Tang said of his message to his players after a Saturday 313 at Naperville North. "I told them to play one hole at a time and not let one bad shot bother you."

Naperville North dropped its dual match to fellow unbeaten WW South by 3 shots last week, but the Huskies could never get untracked.

Lauren Nay led the Huskies with an 87.

"We're a good team, but we're just not consistent enough," Naperville North coach Greta Williams said. "Each girl was about 10 strokes higher than she normally is."

Yuen is one of the more peculiar anomalies in recent girls golf history.

The Missouri-bound Yuen had never won a conference championship in her three previous tries.

But Yuen overcame a rough start with a level-par 36 over her final nine holes to win with a 5-over 76.

"I started off really bad," Yuen said. "I didn't know I was going to finish the way I did. I finally won conference. I've never done that before."

"(Yuen) definitely should have that on her resume," Neuqua Valley coach John Keller said. "(Former Waubonsie Valley two-time Upstate Eight Conference champion Bing Singhsumalee) was one of the greatest players in Illinois state history."

Waubonsie Valley state returnee Arushi Singh was fourth with an 83.

"Throughout the round, I thought I did a good job of adjusting to the greens," Singh said. "I made some good pars."

Another state veteran, Lake Park sophomore Nicole Hanson, was solo fifth with her 84.

"My back nine, I had two different birdies, a par-3 and a par-4," Hanson said.