Girls tennis: Turek, Austin hoping to lead St. Francis to big season

After injuries derailed her junior season, Julia Turek is looking to finish her career in a flourish.

The St. Francis senior is one of the top tennis players in the state. Early in her career, Turek established herself as an up-and-coming player following a promising run to the state tournament in her sophomore season.

But injuries proved to be Turek's downfall in the shortened 2020 season. She sat out most of her junior season with an injury, ending her chance for a memorable showing in the postseason.

Now healthy and armed with motivation to lead a large St. Francis team, Turek said she's aiming for a second breakout season in singles.

"I'm really excited, and feel the season is going to go well, especially after I missed a lot of last year," Turek said. "I'm excited to get back out there. My goals are just to end the year at state."

Turek, a four-year varsity player, said she's planning to capitalize on her experience to help the younger players on the Spartans.

"Starting my freshman year on varsity, I learned a lot about competition and how hard varsity is," she said. "We're all trying to make the freshmen have as much fun, not have as much stress and trying to talk to them and get to know them."

St. Francis coach Tom Castronovo said Turek is among the leaders on a well-balanced team that features 60 girls.

"When Julia when down last year, that hurt us because she was our number one singles player," he said. "There's a big difference in skill level between one, two and three singles. Julia is by far our best player. She hits the ball the hardest with precision. I'm expecting her to do very well. We have to keep her healthy."

Senior Taylor Austin also missed the end of last season due to an injury. Austin, who played No. 1 doubles last season, is healthy and also aiming for a big season.

"This year I want to be able to do well the entire season, and especially do well at conference and sectionals and go to state," Austin said. "I've been practicing every day, just been going out and hitting as often as I can."

Junior Maddie Hoden teamed up with fellow junior Elen Ryson to form a strong doubles teams in 2020. The duo both were named to the Class 1A all-state team last season.

"Me and Elen were really happy with last season and getting all-state was a huge accomplishment," Hoden said. "We're both looking to go farther in state."

Freshman Lily Toppen is a player to watch this season. Toppen is the latest player to continue Castronovo's tradition of calling up a freshman to the varsity.

"It's certainly exciting and fun to move up and play on the varsity," Toppen said. "I'm excited to see what I can do. I know that I will have a lot of fun."

Castronovo said his team will be challenged with a tough schedule, and he's not afraid of high expectations.

"I'm optimistic about this season because we're a seasoned team with significant match experience," he said. "The majority of our match are against the larger Class 2A schools. We believe we can compete at that higher level."