Girls tennis: Lakes' Heuser cruises to state title match

Lakes junior Megan Heuser kept cruising in the girls tennis state tournament on Friday.

Heuser, who lost only two games in winning three matches on Thursday, won her quarterfinal match by 6-1, 6-1 final over Kaneland's 5-8 seed Piper Schrepferman. The win earned Heuser, the top seed in Class 1A, a semifinal match against Chicago Latin's 5-8 seed Lucy Mitchell at Buffalo Grove.

Heuser then beat Mitchell 6-0, 6-1 to advance to Saturday's championship match against Chicago University sophomore Emma Baker, the No. 2 seed, at Buffalo Grove.

With her 5 wins, Heuser alone has Lakes (12 points) in sixth place. Chicago University is in first with 33 points, five more than runner-up Benet Academy. Heuser finished third in the state as both a freshman and sophomore.

In Class 2A, Stevenson sisters Athena and Alaina Kolli, seeded 5-8, dropped their Friday quarterfinal match to top-seeded sisters Sienna and Shannele Lopez of Glenbard West by a 6-1, 6-3 final. The Kolli sisters then lost only one game in winning their consolation quarterfinal to advance to play Glenbrook South's Jenna Horne and Elle Stewart at Rolling Meadows.

Stevenson's other state qualifiers did not advance to Saturday. Freshman singles players Sonia Mehta and Ainika Hou went 3-2 and 1-2, respectively, while the doubles team of seniors Maggie Gong/Ellen Ma finished 1-2 on Thursday.

Stevenson, with 14 points, is tied for fifth with Glenbrook South and Rockford Auburn. Lake Forest (35) sits in first place, just ahead of Hinsdale Central (32). New Trier (24) is third, with Glenbard West (16) fourth.

Libertyville, led by freshman Margaret Forkner (9-6 seed) and junior Lily VanDixhorn, is in eighth place with 13 points. Forkner won her first three matches before losing to New Trier's Ali Benedetto 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. The loss dropped Forkner into the consolation quarterfinals against Wheaton Warrenville South's Emily Orlove.

VanDixhorn won four matches in the consolation bracket before losing to Lake Park's Analisa Cruz 6-3, 6-3.

Libertyville sisters Lauren and Alexandra Berns, who won twice in the back draw on Thursday, lost their only match on Friday. Mundelein's doubles team of Mikayla Edquiban and Alexis Hyde, who also won twice on Thursday, dropped their only match on Friday.

After a 2-1 day on Thursday, Grayslake Central sophomore Karishma Bhalla, seeded 9-16 in 1A, split a pair of consolation-bracket matches. Vernon Hills junior Claudia Bilkey dropped her lone match in the consolation round to end her season.

Wauconda's Megan Hackman and Sophia Esquivel lived up to their 9-16 doubles seed with a pair of front-draw wins in 1A. They won twice in the consolation round before seeing their season end. In their lone match Friday, Antioch's Natalie Labicki and Sierra Ward lot in three sets to finish 2-2.