Scouting Mid-Suburban League badminton
What: Mid-Suburban League badminton tournament
When: Doubles matches start at 5 p.m. Friday; singles matches start at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
Where: Elk Grove High School
Team race: Three-time defending MSL champion and reigning state champion Fremd and Buffalo Grove went 1-2 last year and will be battling for the top spot again this year. Both took care of the first half of the equation by winning their division titles, which counts for half of the overall championship. This weekend is also where every player in the lineup counts down to No. 10 singles and No. 5 doubles. "Our strength 1 through 10 might be at the bottom of the lineup," said Fremd coach Bob Hanson, who said he's been proud of the play of Carlita Shen (No. 6), Steph Kim (No. 7), Katie Morton (No. 9) and Shannon Fitzgerald (No. 10). BG is chasing its first MSL title and went 73-2 in division matches as Molly Jackson and Kelsey Kob went unbeaten at No. 4 doubles. "The kids have been playing well and really been taking care of business," said BG coach Chris Van Grondelle. BG took four of six three-set matches to beat Fremd 8-7 last week in a crossover dual. "The most important thing is we didn't go there and just get our heads beaten in," Van Grondelle said. "We were able to compete with them."
Super singles: Van Grondelle called it "crazy" where players who don't even medal at conference could medal at state. "It should be pretty exciting, that's the bottom line," he said. Van Grondelle's daughter Katie, a Palatine senior, finished second at No. 1 to Fremd's Jenna Langhorst last year. The No. 1 field also includes Fremd's Erica Lee (second at No. 2 last year and third in the state), BG's Heather Nisbet (last year's No. 2 champion), returning Saturday state qualifiers Kim Martini of Rolling Meadows and Selina Imamura of Conant and Shannen Chechang of Wheeling. No. 2 singles also will feature some high-level competition with BG's Ashton Nisbet, Fremd's Annie Huang, Palatine's Maggie Van Grondelle and Conant's Ayaka Yoshinari.
Dynamic doubles: No. 1 doubles will be equally compelling as the Nisbets won the state title last year even though they were second in the MSL. The Van Grondelle sisters, Fremd's Alice Liu and Annie Huang and Conant's Imamura-Yoshinari are also title contenders. "This is probably the best competition I've seen at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles in the MSL since I've been here," Hanson said. No. 2 doubles also has state-quality competition with Fremd's Claire Lee-Jackie Tiangco, Palatine's Lora Weiss-Beth Gleason and BG's Michelle Byjos-Nell Boyd.