Girls tennis: Aurora Christian doubles team stays alive at state

And then there were two.

The Aurora Christian sophomore doubles duo of Shelby Johnson and Madie Jurasek left the second day of the Class 1A girls' state tennis tournament as the lone remaining Fox Valley area competitors with their tickets punched for Saturday's final round.

Johnson and Jurasek opened third-round main-draw play with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Rockford Lutheran duo of Kaitlyn Larson and Hadley Turner. That sent them to the fourth round of the main draw where they dropped a 6-3 3-6, 6-3 contest to the Normal University High team of Isabel Schaefbauer and Abby Totten. Johnson and Jurasek were a 3-4 seed in the tournament, while Schaefbauer and Totten were 5-8 seeds on the doubles side.

Jurasek said she and Johnson served well in the first match against Rockford Lutheran. The duo said a number of issues popped up in the University High match.

"We were still very aggressive, but we had some errors that we will fix for (Saturday)," said Johnson.

Jurasek added: "We didn't have as much confidence as we did going into the first match."

Johnson and Jurasek open play Saturday in the sixth-round of the consolation bracket against the unseeded Olney Richland County team of Audrey Jensen and Logan Kauble. A win sends them to the consolation quarterfinals.

"We are going to be more patient and will do great," said Johnson.

"Jurasek concluded: "We will come back strong and have more confidence."

Elgin sophomore Marta Krakowski won her third-round Class 2A consolation match 6-1, 7-5 over Prairie Ridge's Annie Timm, but lost 6-3, 6-0 to Deerfield's Emily Casati, who was a 9-16 seed in the 2A singles draw. Krakowski went 3-2 at state, a two-win improvement over her freshman state debut.

The Crystal Lake South doubles team of Claire Atkinson and Julia Kopfman lost 6-0, 5-7, 10-8 to the Loyola Academy team of Nicole Morales and Elizabeth Witkowski in the third-round of the Class 2A doubles consolation draw. Atkinson and Kopfman finished the tournament 2-2.

West Aurora's Liz Stefancic opened Friday play with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Fremd's Diya Matta, but lost 6-2, 7-5 to Grant's Gaby Schoenberg. Both Stefancic and Schoenberg were 9-16 seeds in the tournament.

Stefancic finished 2016 state play with a 3-2 record and has 6 wins at state over the last two years.