Girls tennis: Wauconda's Hackman sectional champ
The wait was well worth it for Wauconda junior Sarah Hackman.
Needing nearly 3 hours, Hackman claimed her second straight Class 2A Cary-Grove girls tennis sectional title, outlasting Mundelein's Isabel Alviar in the championship match 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 Saturday.
The start of the matches was delayed 4 hours because of wet courts. The top 4 finishers in singles and doubles advance to next weekend's state finals.
Hackman advanced to the championship match with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Jacobs' Haley Steinkamp. Alviar outlasted Prairie Ridge's Annie Timm 7-6, 6-4 (7-4) to advance to the finals.
"It was a very long day," said Hackman. "I just tried to keep my focus. I was getting tired in the championship match and tried to find her weaknesses. I was more aggressive in the last two games and got my serve in the spots I wanted."
The Carmel Catholic duo of Karina Falkstrom-Marie Kapelvich captured the sectional doubles title defeating the Jacobs team of Katie Toomire-Kylie Skepnek 6-3, 6-2.
"We meshed well together all day," said Falkstrom. 'We stayed focused to play and were eager to play."
The Corsairs' duo advanced to the title match with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Crystal Lake South's Skylar Olsen-Hannah Rakofsky 6-1, 6-2.
"We were coordinated and communicated all day," said Kapelvich. "It is exciting to win the sectionals and advance to the state meet."
Toomire and Skepnek were happy with their efforts in the title match against Falkstrom-Kapelvich.
"We won one game against in the match earlier," said Toomire. "Winning 5 games means we are improving. It is exciting to advance to state."
Toomire-Skepnek moved to the finals with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over South's Claire Atkinson-Julia Kopfman.
"Our communication all day was very good," said Skepnek. "Myself and Katie work well together and we tried to stay focused through the long day. We were a little disappointed we didn't finish first but overall we are proud of the way we played."
Crystal Lake South claimed the team title with 19 points, edging Jacobs (18) and Carmel (16).
The Gators got a huge portion of their points from their doubles teams.
Olsen-Rakofsky defeated teammates Atkinson-Kopfman in the third place match 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
'We didn't have any kids advance to the state finals last year so winning the sectionals as a team was very nice," said veteran Crystal Lake South coach Don Nead. "The doubles teams played very well. It was nice that they played each other in the third place match."
Other than the second place effort in doubles by Toomire-Skepnek, Steinkamp lost to Timm 6-2, 6-0 in the third place match to finish fourth.