Girls tennis: Barrington dominates at Jacobs
Barrington turned the Jacobs sectional into a family affair Saturday - literally.
The doubles championship matched a pair of Fillies teams, and it also pitted sister vs. sister.
Kathleen Tomasian and her partner Mounika Gadirjau prevailed 6-1, 6-4 over teammates Caroline Tomasian and Julia Pisani.
"We do it more often than you think," Kathleen Tomasian said of playing against her sister. "It's fine, it's fun."
Caroline Tomasian and Pisani got off to a slow start and trailed 4-0 in the second set before a late rally.
"When they get beat they get beat by a better team," Barrington coach Tracy Waters-Miller said.
Barrington also won the singles championship. Junior Niyanthi Puliyala defeated Cary-Grove's Bethany Marshall, 7-6 (7-0), 6-4.
Puliyala was injured her freshman year, played doubles at state as a sophomore with Kathleen Tomasian, and is making a strong transition to singles this year.
"She's got a nice game," Waters-Miller said. "She's playing well, she's a good player. She is a smart player and has a little bit of everything."
The Fillies scored 32 points to win the nine-team sectional ahead of Cary-Grove (18), Crystal Lake Central (12) and Huntley (10).
Waters-Miller is retiring after the season. She's coached Barrington the last 15 years and Crystal Lake South for 18 years before that.
"It's really not about me, it's about them," Waters-Miller said. "I don't want to look too far ahead. I am always sad at the end of the tennis season anyway. It's always bittersweet, I hate to say goodbye. These are awesome kids on and off the court."
Sending their coach out with a sectional title meant a lot to the Fillies.
"She's the best coach you could ask for," Mounika Gardirjau said.
"We want it to be a good last year for her," Kathleen Tomasian said. "She has been doing it so long, she does her job really well."
Marshall brought a 25-1 record into the championship match. She's been the Trojans' No. 1 singles player for four years.
"She's got a real nice variety of shots she's able to put out there," Cary-Grove coach Therese Youel said. "She's really levelheaded and doesn't play goofy mental games or anything like that. She's more than just a good tennis player. She's a great teammate and leader and hard worker. She makes every practice count. You couldn't ask for more."
Cary-Grove also sent a doubles team to state, juniors Alina Krembusewski and Karina Los. They finished fourth, losing the third-place match 6-3, 7-5 to Maddy Ljunggren and Kaitlyn Theil from Prairie Ridge.
"That's really great, the fact they qualified for state is really good," Youel said. "They've had a really good end to their season. That's a thrill for them to qualify for state."
Crystal Lake South's Skylar Olsen and Huntley's Ruhi Gulati also qualified for state. Olsen won the third-place match, 6-1, 6-2.
On Friday, Gulati rallied from 2-5 down in the second set to win the match that ensured a state berth.
"I'm really excited, it's (state) been my goal since I started playing tennis," Gulati said. "I think I did good. I played her (Olsen) before, she's a great player, she's really consistent. I was trying to make her move but she's really good."