Glenbard South rises to occasion
A few minutes before the first weather delay at Saturday’s Wheaton Warrenville South Tigers Doubles Tennis Tournament, Glenbard South first-doubles Jenna Brambora and Rachel Rettger had to face a storm of a different kind.
The Raiders got to the finals after a pair of tough victories over Wheaton North and Waubonsie Valley, but their opponents were the Glenbrook South duo of Annemarie Emme and Caroline Ryba, two top-10 finishers in singles at last year’s state tournament, who defeated them 6-0, 6-0.
“There were portions of that match that we played pretty well,” Rettger said. “But they’re a very good team and they forced most of our mistakes. No matter how much we were behind we never got down, we just continued to play our best. ”
“They hit hard and that made it difficult to return them,” Brambora said. “Also, they move real well and they know how to place the ball. Still, we had a pretty successful day, and this is great competition to play just before conference. We try to learn from every match.”
Glenbard South’s Pearl Opem and Stephanie Jaster finished second to Glenbrook South’s Emily Sonneborn and Sophie Hensley at fourth doubles.
Losing to the Titans, who finished fourth at state last year, was no disgrace because, after two thunder delays that added up to 90 minutes and the rain deluge that ended the tournament for good, Glenbrook South won five of the six doubles finals matches.
In the sixth match, third doubles, the Titans’ Megan Kay and Breck Murphy were locked in a finals tiebreaker with Grace Richards and Molly Seeland of Wheaton North when the meet was called.
Waubonsie Valley’s Seena Shu and Deepika Khanna finished second at fifth doubles losing to Glenbard South 6-4, 6-3.
Though some of the consolation matches were not completed, Glenbrook South was declared the champion, followed by Waubonsie Valley, Glenbard South, Prairie Ridge, Wheaton North, Lake Park and host Wheaton Warrenville South.
“This is a really good tournament to have just before going into our conference tournament next week and then sectionals,” said Glenbrook South coach Katie Nicolotti. “The tournament is fun, it’s competitive and all of our singles players get to play doubles. I think our girls played really well today.”