Confident Hitchcock lifts Naperville North past Redhawks

One match can define an entire season.

That's how Stacey Hitchcock feels about a three-set match she won two weeks ago against West Aurora.

Hitchcock, whom Huskies coach Heather Henricksen believes is playing with more confidence than ever, continued her winning ways Thursday with a 6-2, 6-1 girls tennis win over Naperville Central's Taylor Spence to help the Huskies (11-7, 5-1) to a 4-3 win over the archrival Redhawks.

While Hitchcock's win at Naperville Central (8-11, 2-4) didn't break a 3-3 tie, that is exactly what happened in the Huskies' match against West Aurora a fortnight ago, when the Naperville North senior came from behind to score a three-set victory over Lauren Henry.

"We both played really well," Hitchcock said. "It was probably the best match of my tennis career ever, and it won the dual meet for our team."

"Ever since that match, Stacey's been loaded with confidence," Henricksen said. "Every stroke she takes is confident. There's no doubt in her game right now."

Henricksen said she could tell that this was going to be a good year for Hitchcock from the first day of practice.

"We knew she was ready for the season because she came in with a big smile on her face," Henricksen sid. "She always works hard in the off-season, but last summer she really put in some extra time and she worked on her mental game."

"I practiced three or four days a week in the off-season," added Hitchcock, who also took private lessons and played in a number of USTA tournaments. "My serve has improved a lot to where it's the most solid part of my game. My goals this year were to be consistent and to play smart, to place the ball where I'm supposed to."

Hitchcock, who is capable of playing both singles and doubles at a high level, will get the chance to test her versatility when she teams up with Ashley Ferkol for the sectional meet.

"Ashley and I complement each other," Hitchcock said. "We're both singles players by nature, but we've practiced together. We both train at SCORE and we have the same way of thinking about matches."

One of the highlights of Thursday's meet for Naperville Central was at first singles, where Cory Schillerstrom pulled a mild upset by defeating state-qualifier Katerina Bizios 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Schillerstrom, who has had a pattern of winning the first set and then having problems later on, gained confidence through the close second set and looked strong in putting away the victory.

"It's happened so many times where I've won the first and then bombed in the second," Schillerstrom said. "But today I was more focused and during the third set I started to believe I could do it. Playing against an amazing player like Katerina gives me confidence that I can play with any of the girls."

"Cory is getting better and better as the year goes on," said Naperville Central coach Don Bonet. "Bizios is a tough player and Cory did a great job of hanging in there after the first set."