Girls tennis: No confusion about Zhangs' play for Naperville North

Naperville North's doubles team of Tiffany Zhang and Irene Zhang don't mind the oft-asked question.

Both usually anticipate the question before the arrival: "Are you two sisters?"

Although Tiffany and Irene are both juniors, have played tennis for several years and now girls tennis doubles partners, they aren't sisters.

"Very often we are asked if we are sisters," Tiffany said. "It's very confusing. We are used to it."

Thus far, in their first pairing, Tiffany and Irene have been making their names known with solid play at No. 1 doubles this season.

Zhang and Zhang defeated Waubonsie Valley's Kendall Gooch and her partner Carrington Patterson 6-0, 6-0 on Thursday to help the Huskies pull out a 4-3 win in the DuPage Valley Conference opener for both teams.

"The key for us today was coming into the net and being aggressive," Tiffany Zhang said. "I think that really helped our game. We have to be on the right mindset, even if we are playing a team better than us."

At 3-1 on the season, Irene Zhang and Tiffany Zhang are starting their third year on the varsity.

"We are playing consistent," she said. "We have to improve our net game. We lost to Glenbard West because they were a lot better at the net than we were."

Naperville North assistant coach Matt Walters, an alum, said Tiffany and Irene share many similarities on the court besides the same last name.

"They seem like sisters and twins, but when you watch them play, they act like sisters or twins," he said. "They are able to play well off each other. It's great to watch them. They have such a good foundation. Their skills are all there, just have to get them in that doubles mindset. We're looking forward to a great season. It's awesome to have them up top, but we have such a deep lineup."

The Huskies managed to win all four doubles matches in ease but dropped two of the three singles matches. At No. 2 singles Waubonsie Valley's Kayla Hess pulled out a thrilling 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Naperville North's Julie Majcher in a marathon match that lasted over two hours.

Waubonsie Valley's Angela Alvarez defeated Ava Heshelman at No. 1 singles.

"I wanted (Angela) to be more verbal on the court, but she quietly won," Waubonsie Valley coach Phil Galow said. "But when she won the first set, she started moving more and bouncing a bit better and started making less errors and playing with more confidence. I hope she learns from it."