Girls tennis: Palatine claims repeat victory at Vernon Hills

By the slimmest of margins, Palatine's girls tennis team won its second consecutive Vernon Hills Invite on Saturday.

The Pirates finished with 21 points, just ahead of Lakes Community (20.5) and Mundelein (20).

Palatine only won one finals matchup. But the Pirates had a representative finishing in the top three positions of each bracket.

The No. 2 doubles tandem Rhea Akhavry/Grace Koshy registered a victory in thrilling fashion, defeating Mundelein seniors Bree Park/Kylie Brua 6-4, 5-7 (14-12).

Akhavry/Koshy trailed 8-3 at one point in the decisive set but won a slew of points to edge out the Mustangs.

"We've had good chemistry," Akhavry said. "We have great confidence in each other's game. (To maintain our success), we just have to breathe and be positive out there."

The two Pirates are already familiar to one another, having competed as partners for the Palatine badminton team last spring. Though they had a difficult run in last weekend's Naperville Central quad, Akhavry/Koshy were pleased by their handiwork after a bounce-back effort that included 4 victories at Vernon Hills.

"It was great to come back like this this weekend and win," Koshy said. "Our thing is we always get down, but we never shy away and we work to bring things back. We have to keep reminding ourselves that it's nice to win. It goes to show no matter how far we are down, we're not out."

The Pirates received strong performances from its No. 1 doubles team of senior Anja Jacobsen and junior Katelynn Spurck, along with the No. 3 junior duo of Sam Crow/Leah Bradley. Both were runners-up.

"The girls performed great," said first-year Palatine coach Christy Azriel. "One dubs (Spurk/Jacobsen) is a returning varsity team, and Ky (Oreshkin) got a chance to play No. 1 singles. Three dubs (Crow/Bradley) is new to varsity and they played really good matches and got a really good experience. I'm proud of them."

Lakes and Mundelein just missed taking first-place team honors but had plenty of winning performances.

Lakes' No. 1 singles player, freshman Iasmina Farcas, edged out Mundelein junior Isabel Alviar 5-7,6-2, 10-5 for the title.

And Lakes senior teammates Siara Magee/Chahna Saraiya topped a Vernon Hills tandem 6-2, 7-6 (10-5) to win No. 3 doubles.

Mundelein had an individual champion in No. 2 singles, where junior Abbie Walter bested Vernon Hills junior Ria Subramanian 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 in the final.

And Mundelein's No. 1 doubles team, Mikayla Edquiban/Alexis Hyde, defeated Palatine's Jacobsen/Spurck 6-1, 6-1 for first place.

"This makes us better friends, and we like to play together," Hyde said. "We trust each other more and more. I'm proud of our team. We have to keep up the hard work."

"We've worked hard together on and off the court," Edquiban said. "We have to keep the intensity."

Vernon Hills took fourth place with 16.5 points and Hoffman Estates netted 6 points for seventh.

"I'm still kind of looking for us to get through some mental blocks and fundamentals," said Hoffman Estates coach Kenneth Harris. "We have to have confidence in our technique. Everything is technique and footwork. Believe in the process - and continue to work."

Harris praised the effort and results from senior Mallika Patel.

"All the girls got a good experience, though," he said. "The more games we play, the more it will help the learning process."

Vernon Hills coach Doug Gerber is also pleased with the progress he's seeing his team make.

"The girls make two goals per match that I have them write down," Gerber said. "We will see if we accomplished them. So far, we have gotten a little better every match."

"Ria (Subramanian) is striking harder and Isabel (Alviar) is getting better, feeling the timing and getting back on track. Both were sick last week, so you have to give them credit for turning it around."