Warren doubles its pleasure, wins at Buffalo Grove
Teams gathered together at the Buffalo Grove Invitational on Saturday to get a taste of an eventual girls tennis state tournament site.
Doubles took place at Buffalo Grove, while the singles were played at Wheeling.
After it was said and done, Warren took home the BG Invite plaque, posting 42 points to edge out York (40). Maine South finished in third with 31 points.
Area teams Hersey and Buffalo Grove competed as well to take fourth and fifth place, respectively, at 28 and 25 points.
Warren won the Champaign Invitational at the University of Illinois last weekend. That victory was a first for the program, as was Saturday’s triumph at BG.
Warren advanced four doubles teams into title games, and three of them won.
“We were confident coming in (Saturday) after winning it in Champaign last weekend,” said Warren coach Vince Desecki. “We have our entire team back from last year. We play every day to get that state-like feel. It’s neat here with the atmosphere of being at the site of the state tournament. I love this tournament. Kevin (Schrammel) does a great job running it.
“This is the best singles group I’ve ever seen play at Warren. The one and two doubles are doing great this season, too.”
Hersey found some success Saturday as every team won at least one match, which was a goal of coach Sharon Meintzer. Hersey No. 3 singles player Anna Karpetiani, a freshman, mirrored her first-place finish from last weekend at the Fremd Invite, and went home with a medal again at the Buffalo Grove invite.
Karpetiani defeated her first opponent, Warren’s Julie Zysk ,6-1, 6-3, then recorded a semifinal victory over Marta Piekarz 6-3, 6-0 and finall her title match over Buffalo Grove junior Catie Speer 6-2, 6-0.
“We’re coming off an emotional week and didn’t have as much high energy in practice this week,” Meintzer said. “I wanted everyone to get points, and we accomplished that today. We pulled out a couple against York. It was nice competition. I’m going to move Anna (Karpetiani) to the no. 2 singles because of her great play on the weekends.”
Hersey (3-2) also had a medalist in No. 1 singles player Sara Magnuson, who took third. She’s looking forward to playing MSL East opponent Buffalo Grove in a Tuesday meet to start Mid-Suburban League divisional play.
“As a team I’m hoping we could beat Buffalo Grove,” said Magnuson. “I think we have a good chance. I hope I can beat (Buffalo Grove singles player Allison) Flack. She’s tough and I hope I could get a win off her.”
Buffalo Grove (4-1) had a stellar finish from the No. 4 tandem of junior Jessie Schwartz and freshman Christina Harisiadis. This was their first effort together in doubles.
The BG duet finished second, going 2-1. They defeated their first- and second-round foes before faltering against York seniors Grace Diggs and Rachel Maniola in the final. Like Magnuson and the Huskies, Schwartz and Harisiadis are excited for the matchup Tuesday.
“I’ve never played doubles,” said Harisiadis. “It will help me in singles because there was a lot of net play. Hersey and us are both strong teams. Every play will be a challenge.”
“We did as best as we could with expectations (Saturday),” Schwartz said. “We just had to be smart with our shots. It was definitely a transition, but it was easy to find discipline in our play. On Tuesday (against Hersey) we have to go out and hold on to the points.”
Other medalists for Buffalo Grove were junior No. 3 singles player Speer (2nd); and No. 3 juniors doubles team Jessie Jarosz/Anna Hairisiadis (3rd),
“I was happy with how we played,” said Buffalo Grove coach Kevin Schrammel. “Catie Speer did a nice job of taking second and so did No. 4 doubles. We thought we did a lot better than last weekend (at the Fremd Invite). We had some kids in new positions.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing Hersey. It will be a good match and it will be close. One win could be the decider of the match. It could go either way but we’ll be ready.”