WW South's Clousing advances to semis
Freshman Keisha Clousing of Wheaton Warrenville South is 35-1 this season, but in Friday's quarterfinals at the state tournament she finally started playing “her big girl game.”
Clousing, who earlier in the day had avenged her only loss of the season with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Adesuwa Osabuohien of Homewood-Flossmoor, went to the quarterfinals against senior Kristy Dodge of Barrington, who has finished in the top six in state three times, and totally dominated the match 6-0, 6-3, to move into Saturday's semifinals.
“Keisha finally put into practice the things we've talked about the past year and a half,” said her club coach, Kamau Murray of XS Tennis. “And that is to be more aggressive and to use her natural gifts, height, speed, power and balance to impose her will on the opponent, instead of sitting there and playing a short person's baseline game. She's stepping up and playing a big girl game.”
The 15-year old Clousing, who stands 5-foot-10, believes the victory over Dodge, who was seeded 3-4, was her best match of the year.
“After this match I'll keep believing that I can play like that every time I go out on the court,” said Clousing.
Murray thought the match was a sign of Clousing's career turning the corner.
“She realizes that if she plays her game and is aggressive, no one can hurt her,” said Murray. “No one is strong enough to go through her, and because she's so long and quick, she stretches out so wide that they have to go closer and closer to the line. That's when the opponent starts making unforced errors.”
During the match, Clousing couldn't even believe how well she was playing.
“I was going for everything and I wasn't making any errors,” she said. “When I went up 3-0 in the first set, I thought ‘I can't believe I'm playing like this. How am I hitting these shots?' ”
“Every time she came to the sidelines to talk to me her eyes were just big with excitement,” said her high school coach and mom, Patty Clousing. “She said ‘Hey I'm doing it.' It was just fun to be there to watch it.”
Keisha Clousing, who was seeded 9-16 had already made it further than her seeding so, according coach Clousing, Keisha she wasn't feeling any pressure going into the match with the highly-ranked Dodge.
“I told her ‘You're the underdog. Just go out and have some fun out there,” said Patty Clousing. “When she takes the ball on the rise as she did today, and attacks, she's is very, very fast and has great balance. That comes into play in these matches.”
Barrington coach Tracy Waters-Miller was impressed by Clousing's performance against Dodge.
“She played well,” Waters-Miller said. “She had a little of everything and Kristy just didn't have the zip to it. She just couldn't get it going today.”
The Hinsdale Central doubles team of Marisa Cusick and Caroline Lorenzini also advanced to Saturday's semifinals.
Benet's Cassie Kovach won four matches in the back-draw and will play in today's consolation semifinals.
Hinsdale Central's Julia Quintero and Kristy Hamilton and Hinsdale South's Kim Warpecha and Emma Adcock, also won all their backdraw matches and they will also be active on Saturday.
Lake Forest leads the tournament with 35 points, followed by Hinsdale Central with 32, New Trier 31 and Glenbrook North with 24. Benet is tied with Deerfield for fifth-place with 23 points.