The cold truth: Lake Forest takes NSC title
An SAT commitment meant Hanne MacDonald sat out.
She missed the one-day-only North Suburban Conference girls tennis meet Saturday, with Mundelein coach Jim Drier explaining that his senior and No. 1 singles star wants to get into MIT.
"Good for her," Drier said. "I've had her in the classroom. She's a brilliant kid. My fingers were crossed for her for the SAT today."
"Probably more important," Mustangs teammate Ari Dechter admitted.
Oh, MacDonald is smart all right. While she was wielding a No. 2 pencil instead of a racket in hopes of securing a better future for herself, she was missing out on playing tennis on a cold, windy, gray-skies day.
The nasty weather provided players the challenge of keeping their hands warm enough to squeeze their rackets and not letting the bitter breezes affect their shots.
"It makes it a little more fun," said Lake Forest freshman Maddie Lipp, who cruised to the first singles title, losing only 1 game in three matches at Lake Forest's West Campus. "It's not too cold. I mean, come on. It's Chicago."
Lipp's red-hot play mirrored her team's. Lake Forest won all five flights en route to a perfect 40 points. Stevenson (26.5) was second, while Libertyville (20) edged Lake Zurich (19.5) for third. Warren (15.5) and Mundelein (14.5) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Rain postponed the meet Thursday and Friday, meaning all action took place Saturday.
The top-seeded Lipp, whose sister Nicole was an all-state tennis player for the Scouts and is now playing soccer at Duke, won her championship thanks to a 6-1, 6-0 win over third-seeded Michelle Dutt of Warren.
"She hits a really hard, heavy ball," said Dutt, a junior. "And she's athletic. She's really experienced, too."
Lipp took care of Stevenson's Gabbi Demchenko 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals. Demchenko wound up taking third with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Wauconda's Roslyn Summerville.
"Every match was competitive, but I was playing well, especially the second match," said Lipp, who's lost only twice all season. "(Against Demchenko), I was being really aggressive. I came to the net a bunch. It was good tennis."
The No. 2 singles final featured two players who would be most teams' No. 1.
Lake Forest junior Katie Zordani outlasted Mundelein freshman Dechter 6-1, 6-3. Zordani has played a lot of No. 1 singles.
"She's amazing," Drier said. "When she wants to hit the ball deep, she gets it really deep, and then when she starts angling (shots), you think, 'Well, she can't hit it any sharper.' Then she rolls it the next one even sharper. I mean, she's got pace, she's got power, she's got finesse."
Drier was happy with the play of Dechter, who's anchored No. 2 singles all season behind MacDonald.
"Katie Zordani is an incredible player and Ari gave her a good match," Drier said. "Ari's got a complete game as a freshman. She is going to be a force the next few years."
"I think my groundstrokes have definitely improved throughout the season and so have my serves," Dechter said. "I'm hitting a lot more inside-out forehands, which is helping my game a lot."
Dechter defeated Libertyville's Nicole Klein 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals. In the third-place match, Klein claimed a 6-1, 6-0 win over Lake Zurich's Monika Gasiorek.
Lake Forest's doubles sweep at the Vernon Hills Athletic Complex was compliments of Faith Bassiouny/Taya Zoubareva (No. 1), Claire DiMario/Haleigh McPeek (No. 2) and Kristine Kasbeer/Megan Morris (No. 3).