Tough first day at state for Barrington

Barrington had an outside shot at competing for a top-five spot heading into this week's girls tennis state tournament.

On Thursday, the possibility became even less.

The Fillies saw their second singles and doubles players eliminated with two losses, leaving them Alli Linden in the singles backdraw and the doubles team of Kelsey Linden and Kristy Dodge in the championship bracket.

"Nothing is unexpected," Barrington coach Tracy Waters said. "You've got to show up. It's the state tournament. Everyone is ready to go.

"We're still hoping for top 10. To go anything above that, we would have had to exceed with everything.

"With the results we had today, we'll try to keep in the top 10. Obviously we were disappointed that the two teams got dropped off."

Barrington's Meg Crowley and doubles team of Sonam Jaglan and Dana Pierce were the ones to go on Thursday. For Crowley, she lost to highly seeded Julie Flanzer in the second round and then lost her next match in the consolation bracket.

The doubles team was upset in the first round, then after winning one match in the back draw, lost again.

"(The doubles team) didn't play as well as they've been playing all year," Waters said. "The wind neutralizes you. It sure did there."

High winds were a factor through the first day. Balls were flying over the fence at a rapid pace. The scorebooks flipped recklessly with the crowd having to pay close attention to know exactly where each match stood.

Some players were able to adjust to it, others not.

Lake Zurich's Ingrid Brauer went 1-2, winning her first-round consolation match, while Mundelein's Hanne MacDonald dropped her two matches.

Warren's doubles team of Allison Strakusek/Taylor Ackerman dropped its opening match, then won back-to-back matches in the consolation bracket, before being eliminated.

Mundelein's Karlie Alms/Paige Parola started their day with a 6-0, 6-0 win, then lost their next two matches.

Stevenson's Alexis Karigan/Lindsey Hahn went 1-2, while Lakes' Elisa Lopez/Jeanna Dudley lost both of their matches.

Fremd junior Jenna Langhorst did as the day went on. She kept her dream of a top-eight finish alive with three wins on Thursday. The last was her most rewarding.

For the second time in three weeks, she defeated Barrington sophomore Alli Linden. The 6-0, 6-1 victory advanced Langhorst to the fourth round for the third consecutive year.

"It's always nice to beat Barrington," Langhorst said. "I'm not going to lie. It's nice to beat your rival school."

Langhorst had a slight scare in the first round as she struggled with the windy conditions and defeated Sandburg's Melissa Flowers 6-2, 6-4. As the day went on, Langhorst got more comfortable.

Today, she doesn't care if there's wind as long as there's rain. With hard-hitting style, she'd prefer to face Lake Forest's Nicole Lipp indoors rather than out.

"She loves to play indoors," Fremd coach Ken Goettsche said. "It helps her because she's so powerful and doesn't have to worry about the wind."

Prospect sophomore Anne Duggan ran into one of Langhorst's possible future opponents. Duggan met up with Elizabeth Epstein in the second round and found out why she was given the No. 1 seed and took second place last season.

Although Duggan hit with Epstein at times, she was just too much for the sophomore making her first state appearance.

"I was going out there thinking I'd like to win at least one game," said Duggan, who also lost her following match and was eliminated. "When we started warming up, I realized how good she is. Even with the wind, she was accurate and getting her serves in. I don't know how she does it. She's obviously a very phenomenal player."

Prospect's doubles team of Amy Varner and Becky Santiago did make it through the day. The Knights won their first two matches before losing to St. Charles North in the third round.

"We didn't really talk of expectations," Prospect coach Karie McClure said. "Just for them to win two matches in the front draw -- for any team to do that -- that's huge in the state tournament. I think it was a little bit of a shock to them."

As expected, Barrington's top doubles team of Linden and Dodge won all three of their matches in two sets. The second-seeded team will face New Trier today at Rolling Meadows.

Buffalo Grove's Ashton and Heather Nisbet also stayed alive. They lost in the first round, but won their next three matches. Freshman Nell Boyd will start up today in the third round of the consolation singles bracket.

Meadows doubles team of Jenny Velasquez and MaryClare Loughery will also begin today in the consolation third round.

St. Viator junior Jackie Marx and Buffalo Grove senior Jen Immen, both who were making their second state appearances, saw their state tournaments end with two losses on Thursday.