Goldsworthy's serve saves the day for St. Charles N.

Hayley Goldsworthy picked an opportune time to make her varsity debut for St. Charles North.

The North Stars' senior was in a hole in the final match of the season-opening girls tennis dual meet: an Upstate Eight Conference River division showdown against St. Charles East.

"I'm thinking that it's going to be a tiebreaker, which I didn't want to do," Goldsworthy said after the Saints' tandem of Hannah Braulick and Claudia Morency forged a 40-15 lead against Goldsworthy and third-doubles partner Allison Podlik.

Goldsworthy and Podlik had broken the Saints' serve in the preceding game to take a 6-5 lead in the third set, the lone match to go the distance Tuesday afternoon at St. Charles North. With the teams squared at 3-3, Goldsworthy served four consecutive points to give her team a 4-3 victory with a 3-6, 6-2 and 7-5 triumph.

"It was my first match on varsity," Goldsworthy said. "I did what I had to do to win."

"Because it's a rivalry, every point counts," St. Charles North coach Eve Tubman said. "I knew it was going to be a close match today."

In a showdown between four-year varsity players at No. 1 singles, the North Stars' Liselot Koenen was dominant in her 6-1, 6-1 victory over Erin Bowman. Koenen rifled service winners and forehands with regularity.

"I have known Erin a really long time," Koenen said. "It's always nice playing her. It's always hard playing East (the) first (match of the season)."

But St. Charles East singles players Catey Esler and Morgan Nasalik swung the momentum back to the Saints with one-sided wins at second and third singles. Esler, a junior, dropped a mere game in each set; Nasalik won 12 of her 16 games at third singles.

"My serve and my forehand (worked the best)," Esler said. "(The North Stars) were so good last year. It's hard to see how well they will play this year."

First and fourth doubles ended almost simultaneously. The Saints' all-freshmen tandem of Kelsie Roberton and Haydyn Jones cruised past the North Stars' Shannon Barrett and Kelley Hopkins to give the squad three straight wins.

But the North Stars' No. 1 partnership of Kate Lesswing and Faith Oehlerking launched the comeback with a straight-set victory over Claire Hamer and Sam Bacinski.

"We knew we could do it," Lesswing said.

"It's our first year of being partners, but we're really good together," Oehlerking added.

The North Stars' Abby Roggemann and Ashley Randazzo set the stage for the climatic match at third doubles with their two-set triumph at second doubles.