Lake County: Girls tennis tournament, Day 1

Players, as well as coaches and spectators, had to kill several hours before the start of Thursday’s state tennis meet in the northwest suburbs.

Damp courts forced folks to find other things to do.

“I went home and took a nap,” said Carmel sophomore doubles player Michelle Kannenberg, a Libertyville resident.

Her partner and classmate, Long Grove native Kathleen Felicelli, also returned home before returning a serve.

“I watched an episode of ‘Friends,’ ” she said.

Grayslake North senior Kelly Poggensee-Wei, a 5-8 seed in singles, and Knights coach Jill Tomasello walked inside Woodfield Mall.

“We weren’t the only tennis people there,” Tomasello said. “Every time I turned, it seemed, I saw a tennis player wearing her school colors.”

Another coach, Carmel’s Nancy Fehn, also hit the mall Thursday morning.

“I shopped … bought nothing,” she said.

Action on the courts, in windy and brisk conditions, finally commenced between 1-1:30 p.m. Cooperative weather usually allows three front-draw rounds, in singles and doubles, to be completed.

Not one second-round match was played Thursday.

And officials, late in the afternoon, scrubbed the back draw.

In the front draw, Stevenson and Mattoon practically played each other in a dual meet. Patriots battled Green Wave entrants three times.

Stevenson went 3-0 in the matchups.

Pats freshman Kaylin Dong downed Mattoon’s Shannon Daniell 6-3, 6-1; Zoe Manion, another Stevenson freshman, beat Green Wave junior Caroline Zuhane 6-2, 6-2; and Stevenson sophomore Alexxis Kiven/freshman Kendall Kirsch, seeded 3-4 in doubles, routed Mattoon’s Hannah Osborn/Cheyene Gardnet 6-0, 6-0 to improve to 15-0.

The Patriots’ other state-qualifying doubles team, sophomore Danielle Vasiliev/freshman Michelle Tulchinskaya, skipped to a 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Glenbard South’s Lauren Kaczmarek/Liz Oprins.

Tulchinskaya thought she had hit her last ball of the season after the North Suburban Conference Meet on Oct. 7, as half of the victorious No. 3 doubles team (with junior Elizabeth Ettleson).

But Patriots coach Tom Stanhope needed a fill-in at doubles for junior Gabby Demchenko, who suffered a severe right-ankle injury in a state-qualifying match at a sectional last weekend.

Demchenko got checked out by a doctor on Monday.

Doc to Gabby: “Don’t play. If you do, you’d be crazy.”

Stanhope to Tulchinskaya, via voicemail on Monday: “Show up for practice, Michelle; you’re playing (at state).”

Carmel’s Felicelli/Kannenberg, seeded 9-16, nearly had to play a third set Thursday afternoon – after racing to a seemingly comfortable 6-0, 5-2 lead on Alton Marquette’s Caroline Claywell/Anna Morrissey.

The pair of Corsairs, after a firm forehand volley from Kannenberg on match point, advanced with a 6-0, 7-6 (4) victory at Buffalo Grove.

“(They) started getting everything back, and it got frustrating,” said Kannenberg, as Felicelli, standing nearby, nodded.

“Then (in the tie-breaker), “we finally started hitting shots to where they weren’t.”

Carmel’s other two state entrants – freshman singles player Brienne Minor (seeded 5-8) and the doubles team of juniors Maclain Edwards/Emily Rhine – also netted wins. Minor overwhelmed Ottawa’s Erica Tabor 6-0, 6-0, while Edwards/Rhine topped Effingham St. Anthony’s Michaela Zumbahlen/D.J. Brummer 6-4, 6-2.

Mundelein junior Ari Dechter, fourth at state in singles last fall, will complete her first-round match against Oak Park-River Forest’s Samantha Schafer this morning at Hoffman Estates. Mundelein senior Ali MacDonald, a four-time state qualifier, fell 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Batavia’s Liza Fruendt.

Grayslake North’s Poggensee-Wei, post mall walk, won in a stroll at Fremd, dismissing Benet Academy’s Cassie Kovach 6-0, 6-0.

“Kelly is playing confident tennis, and with a lot of determination,” Tomasello said.

Warren’s day was mixed. Blue Devils freshman Alex Mella beat Sterling’s Hannah Jakobs 6-1, 6-3; Warren seniors Jenna Westerberg/Brittney Sunday lost 6-1, 6-4 to Springfield Sacred-Heart’s Sydney Lynch/Laura Seadler; and the doubles match between Warren seniors Lauren Chibucos/Avani Patel and Metamora’s Laurel Christ/Brittany Brinkman will resume this morning at Elk Grove.

Stevenson and heavily favored Hinsdale Central, with 8 points apiece, sit atop the team standings. Seven teams, including Carmel, are tied for third place (6 points).

Matches start at 8 a.m. today, at all of the entrants’ first-round sites.