Slow start, big finish as Redhawks top Spartans on court

For newly-crowned conference champions St. Francis and host Naperville Central, Monday morning's girls tennis dual meet was the perfect tuneup for this weekend's Neuqua Valley sectional.

In a Columbus Day match that was played in a two singles, six doubles format, Naperville Central - which won the DuPage Valley Conference on Saturday, faltered early, but came back strong to gain a 5-3 win over St. Francis, the Suburban Catholic Conference titlist.

"We started slowly," said Naperville Central coach Don Bonet. "But I'm pleased that we came around in the second set. It was a nice way to end the regular season."

The victory by the Redhawks (15-5) was sparked by first-set, come-from behind tiebreaker victories at third, fourth and fifth doubles. All three tandems followed the tiebreaker with wins in the second set.

Those winners were Anusha Balaji and Hannah Sakats at No. 3, Kelsey Wayne and Swat Baljani at No. 4 and Maria Matova and Sarah Madonia at fifth doubles.

The closely-contested matches were expected in a clash between two teams with great depth, and the evenness of talent was apparent on both sides of the net.

"Those tiebreak losses took the wind out of us a little," said St. Francis coach Marcia Bussey. "But the girls went on to play well in that second set. We played them tough in most of the matches. I'm excited about the job our doubles teams did."

Naperville Central's Julia Champlin and Trisha Patel won 6-0, 6-0 at sixth doubles.

The Redhawks' first singles player, senior Sabina Nilakhe, ended her regular-season career with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win over the Spartans' Andrea Krueger.

"In the first set I was playing more consistently and with more strategy," said Nilakhe. "I was moving her around a little and drop-shotting her. Then she caught on to my drop shot and started getting them over. I wasn't as consistent in the second set."

Nilakhe said she was able to reach down for something extra because it was important to end the season with a victory.

"I didn't want to go to a third set," Nilakhe said. "I just wanted to get it done."

"This was one of Sabina's better matches," Bonet said. "So much of her game depends on how she is up mentally, and today she was very strong. She has the shots. She just needs the confidence in herself to play with the top players. She's been a great leader for us all year and this is a great way for her to go out."

The second doubles match, the only one to go to three sets, was the fifth tiebreaker in the meet as Jessica Armbrust and Monica Bhatia of St. Francis defeated Meghan Griffin and Sonia Nilakhe 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6).

Melissa Power of the Spartans (23-4) won her second singles match 6-4, 6-3, while teammates Genna Armbrust and Emily Jagielo won 6-4, 6-1 at first doubles.

Girls volleyball

After a second-place showing at their own tournament over the weekend, the St. Charles East girls volleyball team kept rolling Monday.

The Saints beat nonconference opponent Downers Grove South, 25-22, 25-18 in St. Charles and improved to 26-2 overall.

"Wow," St. Charles East coach Jennie Kull said. "I was very pleased. I think some things we've been trying (out) worked today ... anytime you have a tough tournament, you are a little nervous about what might show up, and I am extremely proud of them. They are still doing really well, they are still having fun and they are still competing."

"We gained some confidence with how well we finished over the weekend, so we knew coming into this, we'd be able to handle such a good team as Downers Grove South," added junior Jacqui Seidel, whose team lost to just Joliet Catholic at the Mizuno Cup.

In Game 1, the Saints jumped out to a 5-0 start behind Seidel's serving, Downers Grove South errors and kills from Haley Streich. The Mustangs (17-7) eventually chipped away at the Saints' lead and were able to tie the game and take an 11-9 lead after 5 consecutive points.

But the Saints scored the next 10 of 12 points and built up a 20-14 advantage and never looked back. The Mustangs, however, got within 24-22 after back-to-back points, including a kill from Courtney Gosewisch, but St. Charles East closed it out with one of Seidel's match-high 11 kills.

The Saints got off to a similar start in the second game after scoring the first 4 points behind Seidel's serving and Streich at the net. Streich, who finished with 9 kills, tallied 4 in the first 6 points of Game 2.

"Haley had a nice night," Kull said. "(Setter Laura Homann, who had 27 assists) really used her tonight as well as Jacqui. Laura ran a great offense. It was a nice night."

"I love being in the front row with Laura so I can just go wherever," Streich added. "She's very awesome spreading out the offense and everything."

From there, the Saints never trailed. It helped in the middle of the game when they 7 of 8 points, thanks to Meghan Niski's serving, kills from sister Caroline Niski, Streich, Olivia Desormey and Downers Grove South errors. The match ended on back-to-back kills from Seidel.

"St. Charles East played great and we didn't," Downers Grove South coach Colleen Reagan said.

"Jennie always has a good team and they play a competitive schedule. We were expecting to play a great team."

- Christine Bolin