Plenty of support for Barrington in winning 15th straight MSL title
Holding their first-place medals, the Barrington girls tennis team crowded around the No. 2 doubles final between top-seeded seniors Dana Pierce and Annie Washburn of Barrington and second-seeded freshmen Dana and Lauren Goggin of Buffalo Grove on Tuesday at Hersey.
The Fillies had already secured the Mid-Suburban League title for a 15th straight time. What was happening on the court would not impact the overall standings, but would impact the team.
It was all about support at that moment.
"You want everybody to win their final round match because mentally it's still an individual sport and you want them to do well to be in the right mindset for sectionals," Barrington's Kristy Dodge said while watching the match. "Plus, it's their last conference."
And it will be about support again on Thursday.
The MSL girls tennis meet is over. Almost.
The final team standings won't change, but there is still one match to be completed and one set of champions to be named.
The match between Pierce and Washburn and the Goggins was suspended because of darkness in the third set with the BG duo leading 4-3. The match will be resumed at 4 p.m. Thursday at Hersey.
Barrington continued its dominance in the MSL tournament thanks to individual titles from Dodge, Zoë Kasuriak and Porsha Swim in the three singles brackets.
The doubles teams of Alli Linden and Meg Crowley, Julie Hrobon and Janet Lee and Josie-Dee Seagren and Katie Allison each won titles in their brackets for the Fillies as well.
"It's great because it's a goal we set out to do," Barrington coach Tracy Waters said. "We wanted to see how many conference champs we could get. We did a good job. There was good competition and good playing."
At No. 1 singles Linden and Crowley defeated Ashton and Heather Nisbet of Buffalo Grove in a hard-fought 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) match.
"We haven't really had that many close matches recently," Linden said. "It got really close at the end so we were kind of nervous and excited at the same time."
Saturday will determine who is heading to the state meet with sectional meets concluding that day. Crowley said she felt her and Linden were well prepared for sectionals.
"I think we moved the best at the net we have in a while," Crowley said. "We've gotten stronger and stronger at that the whole season. I feel like that is really at its peak. Hopefully going into sectionals we can keep playing our best."
Dodge defeated Schaumburg freshman Monica Lin 6-2, 6-2 at No.1 singles in a match filled with great shots from two talented players, even if the cold weather might have impacted some shots.
"The cold weather kind of took the ball and made it drop a lot more," Dodge said. "So it didn't feel like a normal match, but it was still a good match. I just tried to stay warm out there because it was freezing."
Buffalo Grove finished second in the team standings with Prospect third, Fremd fourth, and Rolling Meadows fifth.