Keeping things even in Wheaton
It was a battle for bragging rights, but bragging had to be postponed until Friday due to darkness.
Wheaton North's girls tennis team visited Wheaton Warrenville South Wednesday in a clash of cross-town and DuPage Valley Conference rivals that was called with the score deadlocked 3-3 and a tense fourth-singles match still to be decided.
The opponents in that match, Catherine Coghlan of the Falcons and Jessica Rhodes of the Tigers, will pick up where they left off, 5 games to 4 in Coghlan's favor with Rhodes serving, at Atten Park in Wheaton at 3 p.m. Friday.
After splitting sets Coghlan jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third, only to see Rhodes win two games and then escape match-point twice on the way to winning her third and fourth games.
"No matter what happens in this match, Jessica had a great comeback," said Wheaton Warrenville South coach Patti Clousing. "She'll be serving to try to tie it up."
Until that fourth-singles match, everything about the dual meet was very neat as the Falcons (12-2-1, 3-1) swept the three doubles contests, while the Tigers (9-5, 4-0) were the victors at the first three singles.
The meeting of the two Wheaton teams is always a highlight on both schedules, and to underscore the importance of the occasion and its effect on the DVC standings, Wheaton North coach Rick Rateike used his sectional lineup, which featured Sarah Delk and Corrie Walters, who usually play singles in conference meets, at first doubles where they defeated Stephanie Jenks and Melanie Milling 6-4, 6-2.
The most dramatic of the doubles matches was at No. 2 where the Falcons' Alex Catuara and Kristin Perrine, who usually play first doubles in conference, took three sets to defeat Erica Fenn and Jaimi Inskeep 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
"When our schools play, it's a very intense rivalry," Perrine said. "After losing the second set we said, 'We're not going to lose this. We're going to beat them.' "
"We kept each other upbeat," Catuara said. "We focused on getting Kristin to the net and I played at the baseline."
Rateike praised Catuara and Perrine on their comeback from that second-set loss.
"After having a hard time, they came back with a great effort in that third set," Rateike said. "They were more consistent and made fewer unforced errors."
Courtney Burek of Wheaton Warrenville South, who won her first-singles match, also addressed in the intensity of the battle for Wheaton.
"Every match against Wheaton North is a blood-match," Burek said. "We always want to beat our hometown rival. And this year we meet them in conference and in sectional, so this would be like a double win for us."
Andrea Kerwin and Laura Heiberger of the Tigers were the winners at second and third singles, while the Falcons Nadia Danilovich and Dana Wasserman won at third doubles.