Injured Tigers turn to doubles teams

This wasn't the way it was supposed to be for the Wheaton Warrenville South girls tennis team.

Going into the season, Tigers coach Patti Clousing thought a strong singles lineup would carry the team into DuPage Valley Conference contention while her doubles developed over time.

Then two of the Tigers singles players were injured, one lost for the season, and the doubles have stepped up as the strength of the lineup.

On Tuesday the host Tigers swept the three doubles matches and defeated Glenbard East 5-2 in the opening conference match for both teams.

"We were a young team to begin with," Clousing said. "But now being an injured young team puts a whole new spin on everything. Our doubles have had to pull their weight while we're trying to fill the singles spots created by the injuries to Zoe Smith (out for the season) and Katrina Geannopolous."

Leading the doubles brigade is the No. 1 tandem of returning juniors Melanie Milling, a state doubles qualifier last year, and Andrea Kerwin, who just missed qualifying for state last year as a singles player.

Kerwin and Milling have been outstanding, winning their match Tuesday 6-0, 6-3 to run their season record to 6-3.

"We worked on doubles all summer to prepare for the season," Milling said. "We've had to make some adjustments, but we're keeping each other positive. I was having a bad day today and Andrea kept me pumped up."

"We encourage each other to move more," Kerwin said. "We're also working hard to improve our serves."

The duo's tendency to relax a little after winning their first set, a habit that hounded them during the pre-DVC matches, was in evidence after they won their first set easily.

"Sometimes we lose our focus in the second set," Milling said. "We have to work on our concentration."

- Neil Shalin

Girls volleyball

Glenbard South d. Batavia: Glenbard South has struggled with Batavia since the 2004 season. The Raiders just haven't been able to defeat the Bulldogs.

That all changed Tuesday, when Batavia came to Glen Ellyn for an emotional match in Western Sun Conference action, and Glenbard South defended its home court and topped the Bulldogs 26-24, 18-25, 25-21.

"It feels great we finally beat them," Glenbard South coach Sherry Hudson said. "Some of these kids have never beaten Batavia at the varsity level. We still have a few more in the conference like that, like Geneva and Sycamore...(but) it's never going to be a walk in the park with Batavia. It's always going to be intense... I'm proud of the way we fought."

Glenbard South (5-4, 2-1) led the majority of Game 3. There were five ties before the Raiders pulled away from a 20-20 knot with 4 consecutive points behind Amanda Fisch's serving and Batavia errors. A serving error stopped possible match point, but it was soon made up on one of Kim Schwerdtmann's 10 kills on the next play.

"It was awesome," Schwerdtmann said. "I've been waiting for that."

- Christine Bolin

Boys soccer

Naperville North 3, West Chicago 0: With West Chicago's boys soccer team keeping possession of the ball for a majority of the first half, Naperville North's Chris Boswell admittedly felt a little worried.

After all, the Wildcats' defense already thwarted one quality scoring opportunity of Naperville North's, and the Huskies had their first goal of the game called back because of an offside penalty.

But with 5:10 remaining in the first half, Boswell capitalized on the Huskies second throw-in from deep inside West Chicago territory. The ball bounced around the Wildcat goal before Boswell used his head to poke it past West Chicago goalie Adrian Porcayo, breaking a scoreless tie in an eventual 3-0 Huskies victory.

"Everyone got bundled up in the front, and then (a teammate) hit a nice ball over to me and I was just in the right place and just popped it in," Boswell said. "They had most of the play in the beginning, so we were a little panicky, but we took hold of it."

A more aggressive approach in the second half yielded an additional two goals for the visitors. Ediz Yorulmazoglu's long strike in the 51st minute put Naperville North ahead 2-0 before senior midfielder Andrew Menendez capped the scoring 26 minutes later.

"At halftime I felt like we needed to play a little more direct," Huskies (7-2, 2-0 DuPage Valley Conference) coach Jim Konrad said. "We looked to get the ball forward instead of trying to hold the ball and knock it around in our back eight, and it really opened the game up for us."

- Matthew McClarey

WW South 3, Wheaton North 2, OT: It took Wheaton Warrenville South all of 11 seconds to lay a valiant Wheaton North comeback to waste.

Tigers sophomore George Doran swooped in on a loose ball and scored an empty-netter just 11 seconds into overtime of a DuPage Valley Conference game, giving his squad a 3-2 win.

"Things just kind of fell into place," Doran said of his game-winning goal.

The Tigers sent the opening kick of overtime forward, where the Tigers' David LeDonne and Falcons goalkeeper Mat Bauer converged on a ball that squirted loose. Doran got to it before anyone and saw nothing but a whole lot of netting in front of him.

"I was just kind of there and put it in," he said. "It was one of those times when you can't really believe it's happening."

In another annually typical cross-town conference game on the Tigers' home field, the Tigers' win was also their first over the Falcons in at least three years.

"We haven't beaten them in my career," said Tigers junior Andrew Bellmer, who scored the game's first goal. "And it goes to overtime every time."

WWSouth (4-3-2, 1-0) struck first in the game's ninth minute in transition, after Wheaton North (5-1-2, 1-1) nearly scored on a Michael Lenzi head shot.

After Tigers keeper Derek Babb gathered that shot off the crossbar, he sent it forward, and 10 seconds later LeDonne sent a cross from the end line to the far post, where Andrew Bellmer charged on and buried it.

Five minutes later, LeDonne broke free behind the Falcons defense and went in alone on Bauer.

"Those were the first goals we've given up in six games," said Falcons coach Bryce Cann. "At halftime we talked about just taking things one play at a time and just trying to get one goal.

"James (Waterman) came up big for us with that finish, and then the game changed."

With the Falcons' applying steady pressure in the second half, Waterman crashed the far post and finished on a deflected save in the 57th minute. More pressure led to a Lenzi penalty kick in the 73rd minute.

- Gary Larsen

Girls golf

WW South 176, West Aurora 186: The DuPage Valley Conference girls golf coaches were unanimous in declaring the league championship open to all takers this fall.

Wheaton Warrenville South made the first significant statement Tuesday afternoon against West Aurora at Arrowhead Golf Club. Defending their saturated home turf behind Indiana-bound Molly O'Connor, the Tigers' 176-186 victory in Wheaton snapped the Blackhawks' season-opening 10-match winning streak. WW South improved to 5-1, 2-0 in the league; West Aurora is 10-1, 1-1.

O'Connor was the lone player to eclipse 40; the senior missed only one fairway all day to fire the low round with a 39 on the West Course.

"I was very pleased with how I hit the ball off the tee," said O'Connor, whose three miscues were all with wedges on par-4s after mammoth tee shots. "It's all about the short game. The conditions definitely did affect play. You had to hit (wedge shots) as crisply as possible."

"(O'Connor) should probably be 36 or better," WW South coach Art Tang said. "She is the hardest worker on the team."

Sarah Skurla, the Tigers' No. 2 player, had an equally steady round sabotaged by three 3-putts, but the sophomore still posted the third-lowest score with a 44 to augment O'Connor. Senior Maggie Magnan fired a 46 from the seventh slot for WW South, which also received 47s from Emily Johnson and Amy Wood.

"I knew West Aurora was going to be very good," Tang said. "They are very solid from (Nos.) 1 through 8. (But) our strength is top to bottom, too. Any of those girls can score for us."

O'Connor, who tied for eighth last fall in the Class AA state tournament, committed to Indiana last month. The two-time defending conference champion picked the Hoosiers over Northwestern, Wisconsin and Georgetown.

West Aurora standout Madison Whitt was poised to counter O'Connor, but the senior was unable to overcome her back-to-back double-bogey start. Still, the Blackhawks' leader held tough in the middle of the round, leading the squad with a 43. Whitt had three birdie attempts come tantalizingly close to dropping, and a 75-foot pitch to within a foot saved par on the fourth.

"I wasn't very happy with the way I was playing," Whitt said. "(The frustration) is more from when I'm not hitting it well." Stephanie Lage, the Blackhawks' No. 3 player, had a 46 for West Aurora; Tina Stengle and Kelli Smith rounded out the Blackhawks' scoring with a respective 48 and 49.

"It was pretty typical scores for us," said first-year West Aurora coach Chris Soulsby. "Karina (Diaz, the Blackhawks' second-rated player who struggled) has been a rock for us. We didn't have anyone pick it up for her."

- Kevin McGavin