Benet takes crown at Carlson
The sun was shining and the skies were clear, so that meant the St. Charles East Mary Carlson tennis invitational went off as scheduled and was surely played outdoors on Saturday.
And according to Benet Academy sophomore Cassie Kovach, that meant she might own an edge in her No. 1 singles title match with talented Wheaton Warrenville South freshman Emma Li. You see, the two rivals on the court have played quite a bit over the years in tournaments and Kovach seems to fare better outdoors.
Li used a powerful backhand to jump ahead 4-2 but Kovach went on a 10-1 terror to take the match 6-4, 6-1 and head home with the first-place ribbon. Kovach and her Redwing teammates also left St. Charles with the team title, easily topping the 8-team field after reaching the finals in 7 of the 8 brackets and coming away with 6 titles.
"I beat her outside and she beats me inside," said Kovach, now 11-0 on the year after winning three matches Saturday without dropping a set.
With Geneva star Kayla Fujimoto absent Saturday while visiting colleges, the door was open for Kovach to claim the crown, but first she had to overcome a strong start from Li, who held serve twice and then broke Kovach to claim 3-1 and 4-2 leads in the opening set. "I was just more consistent and hit the all deeper," Kovach said in explaining her turnaround.
Li beat Naperville Central's Michelle Fern and Batavia's Kim Sawyer on her way to the finals. Sawyer, meanwhile, bounced back to defeat the Vikings Carly Ausman 6-0, 6-3 for third place.
"I had a lot of ups and downs today, but I did play better against Cassie," said Li, now 11-4 on the year.
The same two schools squared off in a classic finale at first doubles where Benet's Kelly Carney and Joyce Hanlon outlasted the Tigers Melanie Milling and Andrea Kerwin 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 for the title.
"I've never beaten them so this is a big confidence booster," said Carney, a Benet senior who qualified for state last year in doubles with a different partner.
Hanlon, a state qualifier two years ago in singles, credited her team's attack mentality with knocking off the Tigers state-experienced team.
"We were very aggressive and moved around well today," said Hanlon, whose team needed a 10-8 super tiebreaker win to advance past Naperville Central's Taylor Spence and Megan Griffin in the semis.
The Redwings, who took first in three singles and 3 doubles events, piled up 59 points. Wheaton North was second at 44, while WW South was third at 42 and NCHS fourth at 41. Batavia was third in four events to tally 35 team points (fifth), while the Vikings placed sixth at 29.
For the Bulldogs, Sawyer, Hannah Potter (No. 2) and Miranda Grizzafi (No. 3) each took third in singles play, while Marguerite Mallory was fifth at No. 4.
"I played OK in the second match which I lost, but I thought I played well in my last match," said Sawyer, who fell to WW South's Li in the semis 6-3, 6-2. "I'm pretty happy with third."
After a pair of state berths in doubles, Sawyer is hoping to make state this fall in singles.
The host Saints were seventh in the team standings. No. 2 singles player Jessica Gatehouse was fourth, as were the No. 1 doubles team of Erin Bowman and Lexi Baltes and the No. 4 team of Hannah Braulick and Claudia Morency.
The runner-up Falcons were paced by a title at No. 3 doubles by Ellen Cornelius and Ryan Morrison, which beat Naperville Central's Allie Madonia and Edeline Chen 6-3, 6-2 in the finals.