Girls tennis: Barrington, Conant freshman Strilich reign at MSL tourney

Officials essentially shoehorned a scheduled three-day Mid-Suburban League girls tennis tournament into a one-day event Saturday.

Rain had wiped out all action Friday, a day after only a handful of matches were played at Hersey, Buffalo Grove and Prospect.

Saturday, no surprise, was jam-packed with sound tennis in humid conditions. MSL West division champ Barrington entered the 12-team meet as the heavy favorite to successfully defend its title, and the Fillies did just that - capturing 5 of the 7 flight championships, including a sweep of the 4 doubles brackets.

But the day belonged to Conant freshman Katie Strilich, the No. 3 seed in the No. 1 singles bracket. The unassuming, steady, scrambling, classy, smart Cougar solved the second- and first-seeded players en route to the coveted crown.

Strilich (22-3) defeated second-seeded Emma Tatar of Schaumburg 7-5, 6-3 in a semifinal and topped top-seeded Sonal Matta of Fremd 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

"It came down to the strength of Katie's mental game," said Conant coach Matt Marks, who, like several other league coaches, could not recall a Cougar ever winning a No. 1 singles title at the MSL tournament. "She was solid all day, in control.

"You watch her play, and it's easy to tell that she knows what she's doing out there."

No point better epitomized Strilich, the tough foe to crack, than set point in the first set against Matta did. Matta ripped deep shot after deep shot, with heavy topspin, and Strilich hustled to track down each one from well beyond the baseline.

Strilich resorted to a lob once to extend the point and blocked another to stay alive for another few seconds. Triples die in super outfielders' gloves; points perish when Strilich scrambles to return apparent winners.

"I tried to be consistent and attack when I had the opportunity," Strilich said.

"Katie played well and was on her game the whole match," said Matta, one of the top doubles players (with senior partner Gracie Ha) in the state. "She kept responding well to my shots."

Barrington, meanwhile, played well, period. Again. Coach Heather Graham had her Fillies meet Saturday in the parking lot at the school, at 6:15 a.m., for a calisthenics session. They lunged in the dark. They did arm circles. They did tipping birds.

Then they flew to another MSL title, thanks mostly to doubles titles from Amani Alvi/Priya Shah (No. 1), Abby Carl/Olivia Paik (No. 2), Nurayn Khan/Stephanie Espino (No. 3) and Lauren Bischof/Alina Khan (No. 4).

Fillies senior Ayisha Patel downed Prospect junior Kate Seyer in the No. 3 singles final, and freshman mate Caitlin Kavanagh added a runner-up effort to Fremd's Ma at No. 2 singles.

In the No. 1 doubles final, Alvi/Shah survived Prospect's perennially sturdy duo of seniors Natalie Katsoras/Katherine Doyle 6-7 (4), 6-2, 10-5 (super tiebreaker). The Knights finished with a silver and a pair of bronze medals - all at No. 1 doubles - at MSL tourneys.

Shah's baseline game and Alvi's chips and charges and poaches proved too formidable Saturday.

"Two hours of tennis, it's 4-4 in the super tiebreaker - doesn't get much closer than that," Prospect coach Mike McColaugh said. "It came down to what happened in the final five minutes."

Barrington amassed 54 points, 10 ahead of runner-up and MSL East champion Prospect, which appeared in 4 finals Saturday. Conant, with an impressive 7 top-4 finishes, took third with 43 points, followed by Fremd (37), Hersey (25), Buffalo Grove (22), Palatine (16), Rolling Meadows (15), Schaumburg (11), Elk Grove (10), Hoffman Estates (9) and Wheeling (1).

Other top-3 results included EG's Peyton Oda (3rd, No. 1 singles); Conant's Riya Jain/Nirali Patel (3rd, No. 1 doubles); Conant's Mihika Jalwadi/Sadhana Viswanathan (2nd, No. 3 doubles); Prospect's Cassie Voicu (3rd, No. 2 singles); BG's Hanna Boehm (3rd, No. 3 singles); Prospect's Hannah Pescaro/Lucy Nunez (2nd, No. 2 doubles); Fremd's Ifra Baig/Eliza Rybka (3rd, No. 2 doubles); Prospect's Zoe Klicker/Amelia Grave (3rd, No. 3 doubles); Prospect's Olivia Macina/Christina Ukkan (2nd, No. 4 doubles); and Conant's Clara Morgan/Juliana Dugo) (3rd, No. 4 doubles).

Tournament host and Hersey coach Sharon Meintzer received a fourth-place finish from Georgia Trakas/Easha Patel at No. 4 doubles.