Girls tennis: York’s Coan makes history with state title

York junior tennis ace Caroline Coan received two phone calls before her Class 2A girls tennis state singles championship match Saturday at Hersey.

Older sister Josie Coan wished Caroline well from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Former York teammate Lizzie Isyanov — the Class 2A state singles runner-up last fall — sent encouragement from the University of Illinois.

Caroline Coan, seeded second, then hit the court and made an array of sensational shots against top-seeded Helena Klooster of Marist.

Made history, too.

Coan became the first Duke in program history to net a state championship after edging the RedHawk 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 in three hours, give or take a minute of dauntless shot-making from both athletes.

Coan (31-2) was down 3-0 in the third set, knotted it at 3-3 and broke Klooster in a 5-deuce game to tie at 4-4.

“I had to get locked in, for sure, to get back in the set, all while staying aggressive,” said Coan, who also played superb defense from the baseline by often catching up to Klooster’s hard, deep, well-placed groundstrokes to the corners. “Helena’s shots stay low, so I had to slice, lob, do anything I could to stay in the points.”

The Duke held serve and then broke Klooster on a 15-40 point with an overhead smash. An ecstatic Coan turned quickly to her vocal, green-clad supporters in the bleachers behind the baseline and shouted, “Come on!” before turning again to shake Klooster’s hand at the net.

“Caroline dug deep and stayed with her game plan after falling behind 3-0 in that third set,” said York coach Kara Dollaske. “She mixed up her shots well. What also helped her a lot was her reset routine after points.”

Added Coan, “I was hoping I’d end up with a top-four state finish in singles back in August.”

At the end of that same month, Vernon Hills senior Paulina Masherava and junior Kamila Tymarskis — a pair of Class 2A state singles qualifiers last fall — had a sit-down with Cougars coach Doug Gerber and shared their grand plan.

“We told him we wanted to play doubles together,” recalled Tymarksis on Saturday. “I also remember saying, ‘We’re going to win state.’”

The duo backed up the statement emphatically, capturing the Class 1A doubles title with a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Deerfield’s Maya Krasny/Jordan Cohen. Mashevera/Tymarski finished with a 27-0 record without dropping a set all fall.

“They did such a good job of executing shots after recognizing what doubles teams wanted to do against them in matches,” said Gerber, whose club placed a program-best fourth in the team standings. “Let’s face it, that’s not surprising — they have all the shots.”

Gerber’s stars were up 6-2, 5-2, 40-30, when Deerfield started chipping away at Vernon Hills’ seemingly cozy advantage and made it interesting. Up 5-4 on Tymarskis serve, Masherava poached and punched a winner on match point.

They, too, made program history. A VH girls state tennis entrant had never won a state title since the school opened in 2000 and named Gerber the Cougars’ boys and girls tennis coach.

“Our mindset in every match this season,” Masherava said, “was, ‘We’re going to win this. It helped that we’re best friends and have good chemistry on the court.”

Wheaton Warrenville South junior Riley Lepsi and sophomore Reese Lepsi aren’t just best friends.

They’re also sisters.

“Having a close friendship isn’t always the case with sisters,” said Tigers coach and Fremd graduate Patti Clousing after Lepsi-squared capped off a 29-0 season with a resounding 6-0, 6-2 defeat of Hinsdale Central’s Lauren Panveno/Sophia Virmani in the Class 2A doubles final.

“Riley and Reese are close and competitive and only need to make eye contact to know what the other is thinking,” the coach continued.

After match point, the sisters — fifth at state in doubles a year ago — shared a lengthy embrace in a service box and swayed together for a few fun seconds before shaking hands with the Red Devils.

Hinsdale South sophomore Addy Filipiak, meanwhile, topped Dunlap’s Anna Yu 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the Class 1A singles title match a year after taking third at state.

Filipiak was one game (5-6) away from losing the first and two points away (2-5) from dropping the tiebreaker. After winning 5 straight points to take the breaker, she went up 5-0 in the second set.

“I kept my shots deep and took chances when I got them,” said the Hornet. “I worked on becoming more aggressive in the offseason.

Yu made a mini run, claiming the second set’s sixth and seventh games.

“As soon as match point was over, I felt a mix of relief and happiness,” said Filipiak.

In the state’s team segment, New Trier won its third straight 2A title with a 33-point total. Stevenson — state runner a year ago — and Hinsdale Central tied for second with 28 points apiece.

Stevenson seniors Emma Blass/Ana Sukovic, seeded 3-4 in doubles, finished third via their 7-5, 6-3 defeat of New Trier’s Ava Katz/Lily Hermann.

“Emma was steady, and Ana’s serve was clicking,” said Patriots coach Izzy Balase. “Both also were always ready to put shots away.”

Stevenson senior Kriti Mohan went 4-2 in singles, as did teammate Kylie Bass. The Pats’ Klaudia Jaworski/Emma Iwanowski reached the quarterfinals of the main draw.

“Our seniors served as our anchor,” added Balase. “I’m proud of the entire team. They believed in themselves and their team. It resulted in another great run to a state trophy.”

Conant and Wheaton Warrenville South each earned 23 points to tie for fourth place — the best team finish in Conant’s program history. Conant, impressively, reached that height with only one seeded entrant (5-8 doubles seed Advita Deepak/Nidhi Karekar, the eventual sixth-place finisher).

Cougars junior Khrystyna Pivtorak played five-seeded players, including Downers Grove South’s Gabby David (fifth-place) twice at the three-day tourney, and went 5-2 overall en route to a spot in the consolation semifinals.

Conant’s other entrants were Elyssa Rojas Kantcheva (4-2 in singles) and Noelle Koh/Thea Krachmarov (3-2 in doubles).

“We had an awesome tournament,” said Conant coach Matt Marks, adding, with a chuckle, he’d heard some folks wonder, ‘Where’s ‘Conn-ant’ located?’ Everybody made a significant contribution. The seeding committee underestimated us, but that’s OK. We came to play. We showed our talent.

“They’ll get it right next year.”

Hinsdale Central’s other state runner-up members: Sydney Shuster/Anika Sarai (5-2 in doubles); Asha Sarai (3-2 in singles); and Julianna Radonjic (3-2 in singles).

“Our theme of the weekend was, ‘Prove it,’” Red Devils coach Shawna Zsinko said. “They all played well and did everything I wanted them to do. They left it all on the court.

“Illinois high school tennis is loaded,” she added. “So many amazing players.”

Take a bow: Stevenson senior Emma Blass was named a Class 2A Tom Pitchford Sportsmanship Award recipient Saturday, and Rosary junior Maggie Lagman was the 1A honoree.