Naperville Central comes from behind to win DVC

Under extraordinary circumstances Naperville Central's first-doubles team of Meagan Griffin and Edeline Chen delivered extraordinary results.

The twosome, which has been together since the beginning of the season, won marathon three-set matches in both the semifinals and the finals of the DuPage Valley Conference Tournament on Saturday to lead the Redhawks to a dramatic conference championship performance.

Going into the tournament 4 points behind archrival Naperville North, the Redhawks won two crucial doubles matches at crunch time to edge the Huskies 56.5 points to 55.5.

West Aurora took third place with 48 points, followed by Wheaton North with 40, Wheaton Warrenville South with 33.5 and Glenbard East with 30.

To earn their doubles title, Griffin and Chen fought back from a 6-3 first-set loss to Deepthi Ramachandran and Olivia Landiak of Naperville North in the semifinals to win a pair of tiebreakers 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3).

After that impressive victory they dropped the first set in the finals 6-4 to Megan Wachholz and Manuela Tchobalieva of Glenbard East, and then made another incredible comeback to win the next two sets 6-4, 7-5.

“It hasn't sunk in yet, Chen said after the match. “I'm so excited I don't know what's going on. I thought our team was going to finish second. This is just crazy.

After losing the first set in the finals, Chen and Griffin decided to treat the next set as if it were a new match with the score tied at 0-0.

“In the second set we really improved the quality of our placement and played more aggressively, Chen said.

She credited her teammate Griffin with being the key to the championship.

“Meghan is the big reason we work so well as a team, Chen said. “I get down on myself easily and she helps me get back up. Without her it could easily have fallen apart.

The first-doubles win put the Redhawks a half-point ahead of the Huskies with the second-doubles third-place match between the two Naperville teams, still on the court.

That match would decide whether Naperville Central would win the league outright or the two teams finished as co-champions.

Again, the Redhawks prevailed as Jennifer Lee and Lisa Huang also lost their first set 6-1 to Karen Liu and Julia Li of Napervile North and then produced a pair of wins 7-6, 6-3 to secure the title for Naperville Central.

“After losing the first game, we just kept our focus and made sure our shots went in, Lee said. “We weren't under any pressure because we thought first doubles had clinched the title with their victory.

The Redhawks' Maria Mihailescu, who went through the entire DVC season undefeated, won the second singles championship. She was the conference champion at third singles last year.

““I'm just sort of in shock, said Naperville Central coach Don Bonet. “We just had two great days and I can't say enough about the girls. When you go in four behind, you can't worry about the other team. You just go out and play your game. When we got everyone through in the quarterfinals on Friday, we made up two of the points and it gave the girls a big moral boost.

Naperville North coach Heather Henricksen praised Bonet and the Huskies.

“We had a lot of opportunities to win the tournament, Henricksen said. “And we just didn't capitalize by performing with confidence in pressure situations. Congratulations to the entire Central team on a great victory and a well-earned championship.

Wheaton Warrenville South freshman Keisha Clousing completed her undefeated DVC season with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Naperville Central's Cindy Liu in the finals, and West Aurora's Jin Lee took the third-singles championship.

Naperville North third-doubles Tiffany Oken and Kayla Maxson also finished the season undefeated in DVC play with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Olivia Doner and Alaina Knoedler of Wheaton North.

Fourth doubles also went to the Huskies with Emily Johnson and Kayla McIntosh winning the finals 6-1, 6-1 over Naperville Cental's Allie Madonia and Meaghan Bedigian.