Koenens reach quarterfinals

St. Charles North's Koenen sisters experienced both the highs and the lows of the girls state tennis tournament Friday.

In their morning match, Annemijn and Liselot Koenen recovered from a slow start and defeated Hinsdale Central's doubles team of Taylor Burch and Jenny Porter 7-5, 6-1 to move into the quarterfinal round of the tournament, where whey met up with Lake Forest's second-seeded Kathleen Saltarelli and Nicole Lipp - and that was another story.

The Scouts defeated the sisters 6-2, 6-2 and moved on to Saturday's semifinals, while the Koenens play in the back-draw today with a chance to finish as high as fifth in state.

"This morning's match against Hinsdale Central was really big for us," said Annemijn. "They have the big name because they win state every year. But, we prepared well for them."

The Koenens struggled in the first set, falling behind 4-2, but started to play more aggressively, which led to the Red Devils committing more mistakes.

"Then in the second set Annemijn and Liselot played the way they're capable of playing," said St. Charles North coach Tim Matacio. "They have all the shots. They can slice, they can top, they can volley and they can hit overheads."

Both girls acknowledged that the slight case of nerves that served to energize them in every match at state, may have worked against them when they reached the quarterfinals.

"We were both nervous," said Liselot. "Lake Forest played really well from the beginning, and while we were playing well, w couldn't close out the games by getting those last points."

"We weren't as aggressive as we were this morning," said Annemijn. "They were keeping us deep a lot."

Matacio disagreed that nervousness played a part in the loss.

"The girls they played against are great tennis players," he said. "They'll probably get to the finals. We played them tough, but they were tougher."

Matacio didn't believe the loss should detract from the Koenens accomplishments at state.

"The girls have battled and they've had a great tournament," he said. "The Koenens are complete players and they have the experience of playing together for years."

Annemijn quickly put her disappointment aside and began looking forward to playing in today's consolation bracket.

"We're going into tomorrow and we'll fight to make that No. 5 spot," she said.

"We had a lot of fun coming here," said younger sister Liselot. "We were a 5-8 seed and that's where we're going to finish and that's perfect."