North Stars edge Batavia for 1st place

The key match in Saturday's Batavia Quad was played in the middle round, and came down to a pair of tiebreakers.

St. Charles North, playing without top singles player Liselot Koenen, defeated the host Bulldogs, 4-3, and went on to finish 3-0 in the quad.

"Batavia has a good team, and I was happy with the way we won that," St. Charles North coach Eva Tubman said. "That was a tough match."

The impact of Koenen's absence may have been felt throughout the rest of the North Star lineup, but not at the top, where Brittany Plaszewski stepped up and dominated the day.

"I had a chance to play against some better players today, and I enjoy that," Plaszewski said. "These girls hit a lot better than the ones at number two singles, and I like the challenge."

The freshman didn't spend a lot of time on the court, sweeping all three of her matches without dropping a single game.

"We know what kind of player Brittany can be, and this was a good experience for her," Tubman said.

The win over Kaitlin Mills was the only singles match that went the North Stars' way against Batavia, as freshman Miranda Grizaffi topped Abby Rogermann, 6-3, 6-1, and Marguerite Mallory doubled up Kate Lesswing, 6-3, 6-3.

Mallory knew that her match was crucial if Bulldogs were going to have a shot at winning the team competition.

"I was a little nervous about that, but I was able to block out any distractions and play my best," Mallory said.

The win was Mallory's second of what turned out to be a perfect 3-0 day.

But the doubles side proved to be a complete reversal of the singles, with Batavia's Kim Sawyer and Hannah Potter sweeping Jenna Bell and Alecia Natale, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 1, while St. Charles North won the other three matches.

"We came out strong and all our shots were dropping," Potter said. "They're good players, and that was a fun match."

St. Charles North's Carly Dutkiewicz and Lauren Drawbridge found themselves in the middle of a battle at second doubles against Tamar Norville and Mallory Ramp, before finally pulling it out, 6-2, 3-6, (10-7).

"Carly and I have been playing as a team for a couple of years now, so we know how each other plays and we were pretty confident," Drawbridge said. "Sometimes it does take us a couple of games to get into it, but today we got into our groove right away."

Sarah Amalraj and Kris Wolverton beat Lauren Berczynski and Erika Connolly, 6-1, 6-3, in the No. 3 match, while Steph Smith and Ashley Randazzo earned a vital come from behind win at No. 4, 3-6, 6-4, (10-4).

"I love the team of Wolverton and Amalraj," Tubman said. "They've worked out their own system, and they're a good combo."

The North Stars had very little trouble in their opening round match against IMSA, as they made fast work of the Titans, 7-0. St. Charles North closed its day out in much the same way that it began, this time sweeping South Elgin by once again winning every match in straight sets.

The Bulldogs started the day with a 7-0 sweep over South Elgin, behind strong performances by Ramp at No. 1 singles, Grizaffi at No. 2, and Mallory at No. 3. It was the first of 3 wins for Grizaffi, who won two matches at singles and third at No. 2 doubles.

"I hadn't played doubles this season before that match," Grizaffi said. "I'm not used to playing the net a lot, but it was fun."

Sawyer and Potter jumped out to a quick lead over South Elgin's Jenna Hollendar and Brittany Quindell, and cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 win.

"It took us a while to get warmed up today," Sawyer said.

This was the first time Sawyer and Potter have teamed up, and their impressive performance was exactly what Batavia coach Brad Nelson was looking for.

"It's exciting to see what they can do," Nelson said. "They're so tough at the net and they both have outstanding ground strokes."

But despite his team's solid performance in the quad, when it was all over Nelson was still thinking about the one that got away.

"We're 11-1-1 now, and we were one match away from staying undefeated," Nelson said. "It's tough to lose the close matches, but when you're playing a quality team like St. Charles North you really can't be too disappointed with a match like that one."

Batavia also won its final match of the day, 6-1, over IMSA, as the young Bulldogs proved to be versatile as well as talented.

"An event like this allows us to put some people in different roles and see what they can do," Nelson said. "We've been seeing a lot of good competition on the weekends, and that's really helping us."