Prospect's Partridge produces promising performance
The Prospect girls tennis team appears to have a star in the making.
Freshman Maggie Partridge finished in fourth place at third singles in the Prospect Fall Classic on Saturday. That's no small feat, considering the tournament had five teams that placed in the top 10 of last year's state tournament - defending state champion Hinsdale Central, Glenbrook North, Moline, New Trier and Loyola - in its field.
"I feel I played the best I ever had," Partridge said of her performance. "I got to play some really tough teams, and I'm glad because they were some of the top teams in the state. I feel really good about myself."
Partridge said with bigger meets looming, like the Mid-Suburban League meet starting Oct. 8, that the success she had Saturday is definitely a confidence booster.
"I'm really glad I get to play teams that are better than me, that are state qualifiers because now I know what the competition is like and it just makes me a better person," Partridge said.
Karie McClure, Prospect's coach, said she has seen Partridge's confidence build over the course of the season, but has been really impressed with her play at tournaments the last two Saturdays.
"I'm extremely proud of her," McClure said. "As a freshman, I'm not sure she realizes how big of an accomplishment that is at this point. She played some really tough competition (Saturday)."
McClure said she tries to put her team up against some of the state's toughest competition in tournaments each Saturday.
"We play really tough tournament draws, and I think it's going to make her a stronger and stronger player for her four-year career," McClure said.
McClure said she has seen Partridge carry over the confidence she has gained on the weekends to dual meets during the week. Partridge has only lost one match at a dual meet and it went three sets against Barrington.
There was a bit of an upset at first doubles that has some implications for the MSL meet. Rolling Meadows' MaryClare Loughery and Kim Martini defeated Buffalo Grove's Ashton and Heather Nisbet 6-4, 6-4 to take fifth place in that part of the bracket.
Earlier this week, Loughery and Martini lost to the Nisbet duo in a dual meet.
"Last time we played them, we were really nervous going into it," Martini said. "We weren't really confident. So we just tried to have fun and not worry too much while we were playing."
Meadows' pair was pretty happy to take fifth place.
"It feels good," Loughery said of the finish. "Our coach always tells us this is the hardest meet in the state, so it feels pretty good."
Loughery qualified for the state tournament as part of a doubles team last year but not with Martini as her partner. The graduation of Loughery's partner from last year has put the two juniors together.
"We're getting used to each other now," Loughery said of being paired with Martini.
Hinsdale Central took first place with 72 points, New Trier was second with 57. Buffalo Grove was ninth, Meadows was 11th, Prospect was 13th and St. Viator tied for 14th at the 16-team tournament.