Girls tennis: Several entertaining matches highlight final day at Stevenson sectional

The potential was high for ho-hum matches to unfold at Saturday’s Class 2A Stevenson girls tennis sectional.

All who had advanced to the semifinals in singles and doubles, after all, qualified for state the day before.

“It would be easy for some to take it easy today, given what they had achieved (Friday),” Stevenson coach Izzy Balase said while watching three of his entrants — one singles player and a pair of doubles teams — vie for a championship-round berth.

“But, for us, our ‘state meet’ began at the start of the sectional meet, a new season, a fresh outlook. You want to be in prime form on the first day of state (Thursday, Oct. 24), so there isn’t a better time than this weekend to start writing the final chapter of your season’s story.”

His talent-packed Patriots used rackets — along with guile and perseverance and resiliency — to pen page-turners on the courts, as seniors Abby Ma/Sophia Shlyakhta captured the doubles title, senior Luna Bian took runner-up honors in singles, and juniors Emma Blass/Ana Sukovic finished third in doubles at sun-splashed Vernon Hills Athletic Complex.

Ho-hum matches?

More like oh-wow ones.

“What’s great about this match is both are showcasing all of their high-level shots,” Balase said in the middle of Lake Forest freshman Hannah Halabi’s taut and entertaining 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 defeat of Bian in the singles final.

Each netter played dandy defense at times and overpowering offense at others. On the third point of the final game, first-seeded Halabi blasted a crosscourt shot that second-seeded Bian got to, barely. The Pat then carved a backhand that floated just over the net for a winner.

“Hannah is a great player,” said Bian, who defeated third-seeded Paulina Masherava of Vernon Hills 6-4, 7-5 in a semifinal. “I needed to be more aggressive.”

Saturday’s doubles final featured a rubber match between second-seeded Ma/Shlyakhta and Libertyville’s top-seeded sisters, senior Lena Dogadalski and sophomore Yuki Dogadalski. Dogadalski-squared had downed Ma/Shlyakhta in last weekend’s No. 1 final at the North Suburban Conference after falling to the Patriots pair in a dual meet.

Ma/Shlyakhta edged the Wildcats 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 Saturday afternoon.

Shlyakhta held serve to make it 4-1 in the third set, and Ma sliced a backhand volley that glanced off the net cord and tear-dropped over on match point.

“Between the second and third sets, everything we said was supportive,” Ma said. “We then returned to the court and played more aggressively.”

Dogadalski/Dogadalski, also standout singles players, lobbied Wildcats coach Dan Kiernan in the preseason to consider deploying them in doubles. They’ve lost only twice all fall — to Ma/Shlyakhta.

“When I watch Lena play singles, I see a serious player,” Yuki Dogadalski said. “But in doubles, she’s smiley and cheers me up with her positivity.

“Yuki’s consistency,” Lena Dogadalski said, “is one of her strengths. What I’ve learned about her in doubles is that she’s more fierce of a competitor than I thought.”

Stevenson’s Blass/Sukovic solved Lake Forest’s Phoebe Silver/Nastia Belova 6-1, 6-3 in the match for third place in doubles.

The match for third in singles pitted Vernon Hills’ Masherava, a junior, against sophomore teammate Kamila Tymarskis, who had entered the sectional with a 20-1 singles record.

Tymarskis took home the bronze after Masherava retired after winning the first set, 6-4.

“At the top,” Vernon Hills coach Doug Gerber, in his 25th season at the helm, said quickly when asked where the 1-2 punch of Masherava-Tymarskis ranks in program history.

Stevenson won the sectional team championship Saturday with a 29-point total, ahead of Lake Forest (24), Vernon Hills (19), Buffalo Grove (12) and Libertyville (10).

The Class 2A and 1A state tournaments start Thursday and run through Saturday at host Hersey and 11 other sites.