Senior leadership lifts Naperville Central
Naperville Central's senior-dominated team took care of business at Saturday's DuPage Valley Conference Tournament, but the veteran bunch still had a few surprises for coach Don Bonet.
The Redhawks, who led the conference by three points going into the tournament, increased that margin and won the DVC by taking three individual championships and making it to the finals in all seven positions.
Led by former state champion Tiffany Chen, who sailed through the first-singles field, the Redhawks finished the season with 64 points, well ahead of Neuqua Valley, second with 50 points. Naperville North was third with 42.5, followed by Wheaton North with 37 and Wheaton Warrenville South with 34.
"We had a good first day," said Bonet, who piloted the Redhawks to their second DVC title in three years. "That got us a couple of points, but we never expected to get everyone through to the finals."
It was a challenging year for the Redhawks, who lost to Neuqua Valley in their second match of the season, then were forced into numerous lineup changes when Chen missed some time to play USTA tournaments and others were out with short-term illnesses or injuries.
"The girls did a fantastic job," Bonet said. "There's no substitute for senior leadership. We have eight returning starters from last year. They've been through it and they know what to expect. And it doesn't hurt to have someone like Tiffany at the top of the lineup."
Chen, who was undefeated for the season, turned back sensational Wheaton Warrenville South freshman Samantha Cho 6-2, 6-1 in the first-singles title match for her second DVC crown.
"Tiffany has just started playing against top-caliber players in recent weeks, so she's just rounding into shape," Bonet said. "She's just at another level from most other players."
"I'm happy to have won win," Chen added. "But it was even more satisfying because our team did so well during the season and in the conference tournament."
Naperville Central junior Allison Yuan took the title at third singles 6-4, 6-1 over Wheaton Warrenville South freshman Liz Dreyer, and the Redhawks' third-doubles team of Naga Vivekanandan and Josilyn Dostl were the third-doubles conference champs, defeating Naperville North's Anna Krainz and Katie Mackh 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
Naperville North was victorious at first and second doubles.
At the top doubles spot Huskies Nadia Hussain and Lena Zhu topped Naperville Central's Megan Furukawa and Zoe Comerford 6-4, 6-3 in the finals. The Huskies duo was undefeated with an 11-0 record in conference play.
"Our mindset was 'no fears, no regrets,'" Zhu said. "We trained a lot together in the off-season, so we came into the season knowing we'd be partners. We communicate well on the court and our styles complement each other."
Brooke Stensby and Kavya Rachapalli of Naperville North defeated Naperville Central's Sabrina Chow and Natalie Atkins 7-5, 2-6, 6-0. Stensby and Rachapalli were also undefeated at 9-0.
The second-singles champion was Wheaton Warrenville South's Katya Shcherbyna, who won a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 title match over Hannah Swarm of Naperville Central.
Wheaton North's Laura Maskeri and Julia Kubica topped the Redhawks' Shruthi Mohan and Maddie Kelly 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 (7-5) at fourth doubles.