Thome, Crystal Lake South stand out at Cary-Grove

Domination.

That word describes the play of Crystal Lake South’s No. 1 singles girls tennis standout Julia Thome and the effort of the Gators’ team at Saturday’s Cary-Grove Invitational.

Thome, who lost only 4 sets, posted a perfect 3-0 record while the Gators outscored Fox Valley Conference and District 155 rival Cary-Grove as well as Marian Central and Hononegah 13-2 in recording a 3-0 dual meet mark.

Thome knocked off Cary-Grove’s Maci Koepke 6-1, 6-1, Marian Central’s Abby Waters 6-1, 6-0 and Hononegah’s Tia Norris 6-1, 6-0.

‘It took me awhile to get going today,” said Thome. “Once I got going I thought I played well. The wind was a factor so I had to deal with that. I feel good about the way I am playing with the conference tournament coming up in a couple of weeks.’’

Teamwise, the Gators whitewashed Marian Central 5-0 and defeated Cary-Grove and Hononegah by the identical 4-1 score.

Other than Thome, Jacqueline Boorom (No. 2 singles) along with the No. 1 doubles team of Kelsey Laktasch-Rachel Rasmussen and the third doubles team of Hannah Rakofsky-Kristina Smithanna all posted perfect 3-0 records.

Winning only 5 matches on the day, the Trojans were able to post a 1-2 mark. Cary-Grove edged Hononegah 3-2 and lost to Crystal Lake South and Marian Central by the scores of 4-1.

The best effort of the day for the Trojans came from the second doubles team of Ali Sturtecky-Tori Baranowski, who posted a 2-1 record.

Sturtecky-Baranowski were impressive in defeating South’s duo of Daniella Baietto-Kylee Fetzner 6-3, 6-0. They also knocked off Marian Central’s Lauren Ehrhardt-Sydney Waters 6-4, 6-4 and Hononegah’s Margaret Rohrer-Meghan Davis defeated Sturtecky-Baranowski 6-4, 6-4.

“Ali and Tori played very well all day against some very good competition,” said Cary-Grove coach Laurie Bender. “The match they lost they played very well. It was a good day for them.”

Posting 1 win on the day for the Trojans were Maci Koepke (No. 1 singles), Alyssa Derer (No. 2 singles) and Jessica Hinojosa-Lauren Betz (No. 2 doubles).

“Overall I was pleased with our teams effort against some very good competition,” said Bender. “Crystal Lake South is an excellent team that played very well today. They are a class team with a group of very nice girls.”