North Stars, Vikings net titles
If someone prepared a graph illustrating the annual progress of St. Charles North's girls tennis program, it would show a steady upward trend.
But Saturday afternoon at the Upstate Eight Conference tournament, hosted by Neuqua Valley, that graph spiked way up when the North Stars won their first conference title in the program's history.
"This is really big for us, because the last step up the mountain is always the steepest," St. Charles North coach Tim Matacio said. "Winning this is not just about the tennis. It's more about attitude, and having confidence in ourselves."
For the past six seasons, Neuqua Valley has owned the conference, but last year the Wildcats held on to their title by just one match over the North Stars. It was clear from early on in the season that it would come down to just a match or two again this year.
"We gained ground on Neuqua Valley each season," Matacio said. "It was a horse race all the way again this year. We played well, Neuqua Valley played well, and their coach was very gracious."
The two teams were tied at the start of Friday's early rounds, and they were still knotted up when the first ball was served Saturday morning. When senior Megan Gow defeated Neuqua Valley's Nisha Garg in the No. 2 singles championship it clinched the conference championship for the North Stars.
"That was appropriate," Matacio said. "Megan is the most accomplished player in the history of our program. This season she's been a tremendous leader on and off the court."
The North Stars won three individual championships, led by Annemijn Koenen's title win at No. 1 singles over Waubonsie Valley's Bryna Nasenbeny.
Sophomores Jenna Bell and Alecia Natale saved some their best tennis for the No. 3 doubles final.
"They really picked up their game," Matacio said. "They were aggressive and confident, and really wanted to win."
Each of the North Stars' singles players and doubles teams made it to their level's championship match.
"That's one of the things that as a coach I'm the most proud of," Matacio said. "You want to see the whole team do well, and that's what we were able to accomplish."
The top doubles match came down to a battle of rivals as St. Charles East's Amanda Gomez and Erin Bowman beat Liselot Koenen and Andrea Gentile in three sets.
"(Gomez and Bowman) are a great team," St. Charles East coach Sena Drawer said. "Amanda is very intense out there, while Erin is a very consistent player. Erin does a great job of setting Amanda up and she finishes the points."
When Drawer's third doubles team of Anne Mason and Megan Joyce outlasted their opponents from Waubonsie Valley, the Saints edged the Warriors for third place in the overall team competition.
"They really dug deep within themselves," Drawer said. "I'm so proud of all these kids. For where we are in the development of our program, this is a terrific finish for us."
Western Sun:& A season of determined improvement came together Saturday afternoon in Geneva as the Vikings dominated the Western Sun Conference tournament.
The Vikings won six of the seven individual titles after going unbeaten in conference dual matches to rack up 33 team points, well ahead of second place Batavia's 21.5.
"I knew from the beginning of the year that the top of our lineup was strong, but our whole team developed and really came through at the end," Geneva coach Maureen Weiler said.
Kayla Fujimoto won a tough match over Sycamore's Veronica Behrens, 6-4, 6-2, and took home her second No. 1 singles title.
"I didn't play my best, so I'm just glad I found a way to win," Fujimoto said.
Blair Selakovich waved goodbye to conference play in style. The senior won her second singles title to go with a pair of doubles conference championships, beating Batavia's Kim Sawyer, 6-3, 6-0.
"I was really emotional today," Selakovich said. "Before I started I was thinking about how this was probably going to be my last singles match ever."
Jamie Potts improved by leaps throughout the season, and she capped that effort by claiming the No. 3 singles championship with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Kristen Sapyta of Batavia.
The Vikings also owned the doubles matches, starting with Liz Bertrand and Krista Panko's 6-2, 6-2 win over Glenbard South's Erin O'Brien and Alyssa Zavislak at No. 1.
"We knew their strengths and weakness and what we had to watch out for," Panko said.
It was a memorable win for Bertrand.
"With this being my senior year, and playing with one of my best friends, I wanted to play the best that I could and I'm really proud with the way we played," Bertrand said.
Mary Pelling and Alexa Rogers swept Batavia's Mallory Ramp and Elena Mudrak at No. 2 doubles, 6-0, 6-0, while Kelly Mather and Sarah Zacchea claimed the fourth doubles title for the Vikings by coming back to beat Mary Diedrich and Barbara Marschaller of Sycamore, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The Vikings' No. 3 doubles team finished third.
"We only lost one individual match in conference all season," Weiler said. "I didn't know right from the get-go that we'd be able to do something like that."
Batavia coach Brad Nelson was proud of his young team's performance, which saw the Bulldogs advance to four of the seven championship matches.
"We're happy with the way things turned out for us," Nelson said. "Seven of our 11 players are coming back next year, so this is really good experience for us."
Sarah Nikonchuck and Shelby Lauman lost a heartbreaker to Glenbard South's Ashley Rettger and Olivia Bouchard in the No. 3 doubles title match, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7).
"That was a tough one to lose," Nelson said. "They played a great match and didn't give up, but that's been the way our whole team has approached this season."
Katie Hatch and Emma Anderson gave Kaneland its most successful effort of the tournament, finishing fourth in No. 1 doubles play.
-- Henry Perez
DuPage Valley: There may never have been a conference girls tennis race and postseason tournament as closely contested as this year's DuPage Valley Conference.
Going into Saturday's final two rounds, any one of four teams had a good chance to win, but it was Naperville North that came away with its second DVC title in three years, with a mere 2.5 points separating the big four.
"We've never had anything quite like it," said Wheaton Warrenville South coach Patti Clousing. "This is the first time I've seen four schools this close. In fact it was five schools because Naperville Central wasn't very far behind."
With points accumulating on match wins throughout the season and tournament, the Huskies finished with 47 points, just ahead of Wheaton North, which scored 45.5, Wheaton Warrenville South, 45 and West Aurora 44.5. Naperville Central, which spent Saturday winning key matches and spoiling it for others, ended with 38.
When the team results were announced the Wheaton Warrenville South players reacted with a shout of joy at finishing third.
"We finished a half-point ahead of West Aurora," Clousing said. "They beat us by a half-point for the conference championship last year. We were just happy to turn the tables."
West Aurora's Shannon Brooks and Brooke Henry won the first- and second- singles competition.
-- Neil Shalin
Boys cross country
Sterling Invite: Neuqua Valley ran away with the team title with 39 points, beating out Conant's 108. Kevin Huml led Kaneland, finishing 81st.
Girls volleyball
BC wins title:ŒThe Burlington Central girls volleyball team got the opportunity to play Iowa's No. 1 ranked team Saturday and the Rockets had double success with it.
Playing in the Bettendorf, Iowa Invitational, the Rockets stunned previously undefeated and top-ranked Ankeny to begin pool play 21-17, 21-18 before coming back to beat Ankeny 25-18, 25-22 in the title match. In between, BC downed Iowa City 21-15, 19-21 and North Scott 21-17, 21-15 to conclude pool play before stopping West Des Moines Valley 25-17, 25-15 in the semifinals.
"It was a really good day for us," said BC coach Marv Leavitt, whose team is now 24-3 on the season. "Our defense was really strong in the championship game with 49 digs. We've been working hard on our defensive game and it was really good today."
Senior libero Brooke Porto led the defensive effort with 17 digs and by going 41-for-42 on serve receive. Stephanie Holthus had 26 digs and was 51 of 52 on serve receive in addition to pounding 38 kills.
Molly Turk had 112 assists, 17 kills, 22 digs and 11 blocks for the Rockets while Teresa Krog had 39 kills, 10 blocks, 6 aces and 31 points. Kim Ingraham had 22 kills and 12 blocks for the Rockets and Rachael Latham added 19 kills and 26 points.
Girls cross country
Sterling Invite: Kaneland finished 15th out of 26 teams. Andi Strang finished 30th with a time of 19:42. Iowa City won the team title with 68 points. Loyola Academy had 81 and Pleasant Valley (Iowa) came in third.
Football
Mooseheart 19, North Shore Country Day 0: Maybe there really is something special about Mooseheart Homecoming.
By the time the football team took the field at 2 p.m., there had already been a pipe organ concert on campus, and Moose members from all over the country met to celebrate the place that is the focal point for the men and women of the Moose fraternity.
But the focal point of Homecoming is always the football game -- and for the third straight year, the victory bell rang at the end of the contest -- thanks to a convincing 19-0 win over North Shore Country Day.
"It's great," Mooseheart senior Floyd Mays said. "Once you score, the crowd gets into it. This was a great atmosphere for us. And the Moose members came out and supported us and that was great."
The win snaps comes after back-to-back losses and puts the Ramblers (4-3) playoff run back on track. Mooseheart visits Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wis. next week.
"We're going to do what we can next week," Mooseheart coach Gary Urwiler said. "Right now we're going to savor this one and then come back on Monday."
--Darryl Mellema
Men's soccer
Aurora 4, Maranatha Baptist 1: Chase Corricelli scored his 35th collegiate goal, placing him third on the all time AU scoring list. The Spartans are now 7-2-2 overall.
Women's soccer
Waubonsee 7, South Suburban 2: Finda Fallah scored four goals and Sara Merker scored twice as the Chiefs (3-6-2) picked up a road win. Ashley Meyer made 12 saves in goal.
Aurora 4, Maranatha Baptist 1: Allison Bailey and Jessica Novickas both scored twice for the Spartans (9-2-1).
Women's golf
NAC Meet: Aurora won its second consecutive Northern Athletics Championship at Mequon Country Club. The Spartans posted scores of 394 on both days of the event for a total of 788, beating out second place Concordia (Wis.) by 54 strokes.
Aurora's Kristen Richardson took medalist honors with a score of 173. She was named both NAC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Aurora's Chad Johansen was named NAC Coach of the Year.