Koenen's return helps St. Charles North top Geneva
Welcoming its best player back to the lineup Tuesday afternoon, the St. Charles North girls tennis team celebrated with a 5-2 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over visiting Geneva.
With senior Liselot Koenen coming back from a trip to her homeland of Holland and quickly dominating her No. 1 singles match, the North Stars were able to shift players to solidify their doubles teams, which rattled off three-of-four victories.
St. Charles North (3-1 in conference) was also fueled by victories in two matches that went to a third set - Jessica Szymanski topped Geneva's Sarah Kappele 6-4, 1-6, 6-0 in third singles, while the second doubles team of Kate Lesswing and Abby Roggemann bested Stephanie Michaels and Kirby Arloff of Geneva after losing a first-set tiebreaker 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-1.
"It was an exciting match, but I was not confident that we could win two (of the three) singles matches," said St. Charles North coach Eve Tubman. "My two's and three's are very close and when one goes down, they both tend to go down."
Even though Annie Tourte rolled in the second singles match for Geneva (2-1 in conference) with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kaity Wolfe of St. Charles North, Szymanski came through for the North Stars in the long third-singles match.
"It was a matter of extra energy for me," Szymanski said after wearing down Kappele in the match. "I just really wanted to win."
Tubman had delivered a pep talk to Syzmanski after she lost the second set.
"I told her we really needed her point, because we couldn't be sure how the doubles matches were going to come out, and Jessica came through," Tubman said.
Koenen also came through, which St. Charles North almost always counts on at No. 1 singles.
"I am really happy to be back on the team," Koenen said after dispatching Carly Ausman of Geneva 6-0, 6-2. "My forehand shots were going real good, and my serves were strong for the most part."
Tubman knows she has a solid player at No. 1, but it makes a difference for the whole squad.
"With Liselot back, we were able to put everyone back in their regular positions," Tubman said.
That proved to be important for the North Stars because Faith Oeblerking was able to go back to No. 1 doubles with Ashley Randazzo, rather than filling the No. 1 singles slot. It paid off with a convincing doubles victory for St. Charles at 6-4, 6-4 over Claire Chlastar and Stephanie Sharp.
The North Stars got a third doubles victory from Hayley Goldsworthy and Kelly Mehan 6-4, 6-0 over Emily Malocha and Abby Daumer of Geneva, while Geneva secured a win at fourth doubles as Allison Donahue and Nora Burkhart claimed a 6-3, 6-3 win over Allison Pudlik and Shannon Barrett.
Geneva coach Maureen Weiler felt her team was close, citing the matches that went three sets being the difference.
"If we can finish those off, that's the difference between winning and losing the match," Weiler said. "Sarah (Kappele) is just a sophomore and she has had so many long matches, and singles is such a tough thing to begin with, it was just hard for her today.
"We're right there when you take someone to a third set, and I think it is going to come down to bringing it up a notch when we get in that position in conference play," Weiler added.