Top to bottom, Fremd celebrates crown

All teammates carry equal point-scoring significance in the Mid-Suburban League badminton team championship chase.

Fremd senior and state title contender Jenna Langhorst won the fourth MSL singles title of her career Saturday at Buffalo Grove. But teammates Jackie Tiangco and Carolyn Buesing were seen as the team stars in coach Bob Hanson's eyes.

Tiangco at No. 7 singles and Buesing at No. 9 won titles and Fremd won its third straight MSL crown with 63 points. Buffalo Grove, with Ashton and Heather Nisbet among five singles champs, took second with 58.5 points.

West champion Fremd and East champ BG also finished 1-2 in the overall MSL standings where the division finish counts toward half of the title.

"It's very exciting and everyone worked hard," said Buesing, a junior who went unbeaten in MSL matches at No. 9. "To know you're impacting as much kept me persevering."

Langhorst left a significant impact on the MSL after beating Palatine junior Katie Van Grondelle 21-17, 21-12 for her second straight title at No. 1. She won at No. 2 as a sophomore and No. 3 as a freshman.

"I had never played her before so I had to kind of feel it out a little bit," Langhorst said as she stayed unbeaten this season. "The MSL is definitely one of the strongest conferences so it's really exciting to do it four times."

Van Grondelle (9-1), who missed the Palatine-Fremd dual because of illness, had to come back in a tough three-game semifinal win over Wheeling's Karolina Sabaliauskaite.

"She (Langhorst) hit many more smashes in the second game and I wasn't able to get to them," Van Grondelle said. "I was just excited to get to that point."

Helping BG to its highest MSL finish with titles were the Nisbets, Kate Meyers at No. 5, Deanna Guyton in a wild 28-26 third game at No. 6 over Fremd's Carlita Shen and Ulana Kuryluk at No. 10.

"This team has done amazing, " Ashton Nisbet said after winning the title at No. 3. "I've never felt so close with a group of girls before. I feel like we won. We have the greatest team and the sweetest team."

The Nisbets lost to Langhorst and Erica Lee for the No. 1 doubles title Friday but Heather Nisbet came back at No. 2 to give Lee just her second loss 21-16, 21-14.

"I was so motivated and on a roll today," Nisbet said. "I really wanted to show her what I had in singles. I wanted to get a championship somewhere."

Also winning titles were Wheeling senior Jen Moss at No. 4 and Hersey's Tamara Cisowska at No. 8 as their teams finished tied for third in the overall standings.

"It's the last singles match I'm going to play in high school so I'm very ecstatic to win this," Moss said of a draining 21-19, 21-19 win over BG's Michelle Byjos. "After missing last season (dislocated wrist) I knew I couldn't go another season without playing and I wanted to make the most of this season."