Naperville Central the class of the sectional
Coach Don Bonet knew four years ago that his Naperville Central incoming girls tennis class was something special.
Saturday at Naperville North, the Redhawks won their fourth straight sectional title, sending Bonet into retirement on a triumphant note.
Senior Tiffany Chen led the way with her third sectional singles championship with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Samantha Choi of Wheaton Warrenville South.
Naperville North's Nadia Hussain an Lena Zhu defeated the Redhawks' Sabrina Chow and Hannah Swarm 6-2, 6-1 in the doubles final.
"Our group had a great run," Bonet said. "We have talent, depth and they're great girls. It's been terrific watching them grow. And this was a great ending."
Madeline Fidel of Wheaton North and Katya Shcherbyna of Wheaton Warrenville South, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the singles bracket at the sectional, also qualified for the state tournament.
The third- and fourth-place doubles teams Maisie Howland and Lili Bracy of Wheaton Academy and Tanika Patel and Michelle He of Metea Valley also made it to the state tournament, which starts next Thursday at various locations in the Northwest Suburbs.
Chen, who also defeated Choi in the DuPage Valley Conference singles final last week, will be attempting to make her fourth straight trip to the state final four. She finished fourth as a freshman, won the state title as a sophomore and came in third last year.
"We're not making any predictions," Bonet said of this year's state tournament, "but if you get to the final eight anybody can win. And Tiffany is at the top of her game. She just goes out there and takes care of business. Her game has no glaring weakness and she steps up in difficult matches. She's so consistent that I believe she's a little underrated."
"I'm pleased with how I played this weekend," Chen said. "But I'm really happy that we accomplished our team goals by winning conference and sectionals. At state I'm just going to go out and play my game and enjoy whatever happens."
Hussain and Zhu finished the year with a 15-0 record in conference and sectionals without losing a set.
At sectionals they executed their game plan of exploiting opponents' weaknesses and emphasizing placement over power.
"As a team, we were shaky at the beginning of the season," Hussain said. "But we really bonded and we became best friends, and our game improved as the season went on. I'm really excited that we were ready to step up in the conference final and at sectionals."
"We had great communication on the court," Zhu said. "We came in with an idea of how to play them and we executed our plan. This will be our first time going to state, so we're going to have to maintain our consistent play next week."
The girls are optimistic that they can get a 17-32 seed for the state tournament.
"The girls have gotten better with each passing week," said Naperville North coach Heather Henricksen. "They've reached a point where they're confident as they should be. They've been great senior leaders for our team."
Naperville Central scored 21 points to win the team title, followed by Wheaton North and Wheaton Academy, which tied for second with 17. Metea Valley and Wheaton Warrenville South tied for fourth with 14, and Naperville North scored 12.