Girls tennis: Glenbard West stands apart at Wheaton North Quad
After qualifying for her first girls tennis state meet in 2015, Glenbard West junior Molly Rueth wasted little time seeking a new doubles partner.
Junior Grace Giffin has moved from No. 2 singles to replace graduated Molly Hughes.
"I kind of had it in my mind I wanted to play with Grace. We're pretty strong singles players, and with my volleying and her ground strokes we combine pretty well," Rueth said.
"We got together in the summer. It's been a little bumpy, but we've gotten better at it so I'm happy with it."
On Saturday, Rueth and Giffin displayed plenty of determination with big back-to-back comeback victories that helped the Hilltoppers defend their title at the Wheaton North Quad.
The Hilltoppers (18-3) beat Neuqua Valley and Benet 4-2 and the host Falcons 5-1 in the three singles-three doubles format. Neuqua Valley edged Benet for second place by beating the Redwings 4-2 and tying Wheaton North 3-3. Benet beat Wheaton North 4-2.
Rueth and Giffin (18-2) and Glenbard West freshman Sienna Lopez (11-5) and senior Katie Snow were 3-0 at No. 1 doubles, No. 1 singles and No. 3 singles, respectively, with a combined three victories via 10-point tiebreakers used to decide third sets. Seniors Ali Koch and Summer Johanneson were 2-1 at No. 2 doubles.
Two important three-set victories came against Wheaton North (11-4-3), which will join the Hilltoppers at the St. Charles East sectional in the new two-class state format.
"A very challenging day. We're really equal teams so a lot of really good, close matches," Glenbard West coach Jim Valleskey said. "It's a very good tournament to get those players ready for (the postseason)."
In their second match, Rueth and Giffin rallied to beat Wheaton North's Rachel MacNeill and Lily Oviatt 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5), 10-1. The Hilltoppers followed that by outlasting Benet's Katie Telford and Trinity Marshall 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 10-2. Telford, a senior, is a two-time, top-24 state doubles finisher with graduated Allison Bartley.
"(Wheaton North) was pretty close. We just started to relax and play our game. We were just able to get back in our rhythm," Rueth said. "I think the second time around we kind of knew what we were doing. We were in the zone and knew what we had to do from the first win."
In another tight match between area powers, Lopez rallied for 1-6, 6-3, 11-9 victory over Wheaton North sophomore and returning 2015 state qualifier Madeline Fidel (15-3).
Lopez won the last three points of the tiebreaker after fighting off match point.
"That was the best (victory this season) so far," Lopez said. "I realized in the first set I was hitting a lot of flat balls and hitting too hard. I try to keep my emotions calm and I wanted to come back in the second set."
Neuqua senior Jessica Chen, a two-time state qualifier, won once at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles with Veena Murali, who also was 2-0 at No. 2 singles. The No. 2 doubles team of sophomores Charlotte Harland and Sara Mata was 3-0, beating Glenbard West 11-9 in their third-set tiebreaker. Mata is a foreign exchange student from Spain like older sister Adriana, a 2015 state doubles qualifier for the Wildcats.
Benet was 3-0 at No. 3 doubles with three duos that included senior Katie Milani twice. Also winning twice were Telford at No. 1 doubles with Marshall and junior Pauline Neubert, Caroline Arnold in her two No. 2 singles matches and Jane Gleason at No. 3 doubles and singles.
The Falcons received two wins apiece from Fidel and senior Emme Lindquist (10-2) at No. 2 singles. In the dual with Neuqua, Fidel beat returning state doubles qualifier Hannah Beck 6-1, 6-1 after Chen edged Fidel in two straight tiebreakers Thursday in their DuPage Valley Conference dual won by the Wildcats 5-2.
Lindquist sat out one match Saturday to rest a knee injury.
"I felt like I played pretty well. They were hard matches, but I'm glad to be able to come out with wins," Lindquist said. "I'm looking forward to the rest of the season for our team. I think we have a lot of potential."