Doubles power drives Benet at Meadows

Eight teams gathered at Rolling Meadows for its 27th annual Mustang Tennis Invitational on Saturday. And all eight battled fierce wind gusts in a final invitational before conference play begins.

When it was all said and done, Benet registered first-place honors with 48 points. Following the Redwings were Glenbard West with 43 and Lake Zurich at 29.

The Mustang invitational has a unique design as it mirrors the sectional format.

"My girls are peaking at the right time," said Schaumburg coach Jason Campbell, whose team took fifth with 25 points. "Having a tournament like this at this time of year, it pays benefits.

"The sectional format is good for the girls. It gives them opportunities and helps them play at the same level of ability."

Benet edged out the rest the schools by a 14-point margin because of their two doubles squads going head-to-head in the finals.

Benet's No. 1 doubles team with juniors Madeline Carney and Kim Simmons defeated their No. 2 doubles team consisting of juniors Maribeth King and Daniella Reyes 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, and 10-7. Even though they're teammates, both squads showed a very competitive nature.

"I feel like our game is aggressive," Simmons said. "You can't lob in wind like this, so we just stuck to our game plan and the wind wasn't a problem.

"This is different than practice. We want to run and move. This is one of the most competitive matches we've played this year. They played very well against us."

Simmons and Carney (22-0) have played as partners since freshman year. They handed King and Reyes their first loss on the season (21-1).

"We were missing our second singles player (Leah Tzakis), so the doubles needed to pick it up," said Benet coach Bob Comerford. "We had our third singles player fill in (Maggie Wilhelm) and she did really well. She got sixth."

"Our second doubles team is a first playing in second. This is the best level they have been playing at. It was fun to see our doubles teams play this one out."

In the singles flight, held at Fremd, Schaumburg sophomore Monica Lin (11-2) battled Glenbard West junior Meredith Maltby in the final. Maltby and Lin have played each other on numerous occasions outside of high school.

In the 2009 season, Maltby and Lin faced off in Mustang Invitational semifinal match, but it was suspended due to rain. On Saturday, Lin defeated Maltby 7-5, 6-0.

"I've been getting a lot of help from coaches," Lin said. "We've been spending more time with match play. I just kept moving my feet and watched the ball."

Lin debated whether or not to play on the Schaumburg's team this season due to her busy national schedule.

"There weren't as many girls playing this year," Lin said. "There's a lot of competition. I wanted to help the school and represent (Schaumburg) at state."

All of the teams participating begin their conference play next weekend.

"The girls have been coming along quite well," said Rolling Meadows coach Jim Gumz whose team placed fourth with 27 points. "They've actually come along better than I thought. We've played matches pretty close this year."

"It's good to play with a lot of teams with a finish like today. We'll see what happens in conference and sectionals."