Carmel's Minor charges into state semifinals

Carmel sophomore Jasmine Minor had a talk with herself before a second-set tiebreaker against Downers Grove South junior Jenny Hois.

The gist was that although she loves tennis, enough already.

"I didn't feel like playing another third set today," said Minor, a 9-16 seed.

Minor responded by winning the tiebreaker for a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory in the quarterfinals of the IHSA state tennis tournament at Prospect. In the morning match, Minor topped 3-4 seed Gabbie Clark 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

Minor moves on to the semifinals to play defending state champion Elizabeth Epstein at 9 a.m. today at Prospect.

In the tiebreaker, Minor found the right balance between attacking and patience.

Toward the end of the match, Minor and Hois, a 5-8 seed, exchanged glares and both players became more demonstrative.

"Of all my tennis friends, Jenny's the most competitive by far," Minor said. "We both have that fire and that's why it's so tense between us. The match is that much harder and it makes me become a better player."

Minor's marathon day of tennis began when she arrived before 8 a.m. at Prospect. After an hour of waiting, the courts were still not dry enough. As a result, most of the morning singles matches were moved to Schaumburg Tennis Plus.

Minor and Clark (University) took the court at about 10 and after a short warmup the match began.

"We both made a lot of errors," Minor said. "I don't think Gabbie necessarily played her best tennis. If we would have had a (longer) warmup, I think it would have been a lot closer."

The scoring format for the first match was No-Ad. If both players win 3 points, the next point decides the game.

"That makes the beginning of games huge," Minor said. "There's no time for errors or double faults. You have to get (a lead) quickly."

Minor now turns her focus to Epstein, a senior at F.W. Parker. The two players have never met before.

As a sophomore, Epstein advanced to the state championship match where she lost to Deerfield's Rachael White. On Friday morning, Hinsdale Central's Courtney Dolehide defeated White in three sets. Epstein took care of Dolehide 6-4, 6-1 in the afternoon.

"She had a long match right before she played me and I thought she might be tired," Epstein said. "I stayed (consistent) and went for high-percentage shots."

By now, Epstein is used to weather delays and playing one match indoors and the next outdoors.

"You have to be up for anything in high school tennis," she said. "The weather is really iffy this time of season."

After going 3-0 on Thursday, Carmel's Lauren Aguilar and Michelle Kunkler could not add to their victory total. The duo lost in the fourth round 6-0, 6-1 to Hinsdale Central's Kate Klein and Alex Tapak.

Even with a loss in a sixth-round consolation match, Aguilar and Kunkler secured a top-16 finish.

"I never thought we would get that far," Aguilar said. "The whole season has been amazing."