Girls tennis: Batavia battles back to DuKane title over St. Charles East

Going into Saturday's DuKane Conference Tournament at Lake Park, Batavia trailed first place St. Charles East by two points, 41-39.

The Saints held the advantage due to taking three out of the four doubles matches when the teams battled in a dual meet earlier this month.

Batavia turned the tables, taking three of the four doubles titles - two from St. Charles East - to squeak by the Saints by a point, 54.5-53.5 to win the tournament and capture the conference crown.

The Bulldogs scored 15.5 points to St. Charles East's 12.5 in the league invite. Batavia placed fifth or better in all seven categories.

"In the dual meet we lost we lost three of the four doubles matches to the East," said Batavia coach Brad Nelson. "Today we won three of the four doubles matches.

"We also had a big win at third singles and we had a big win at one singles on Thursday from Madison (Ostrander). Put all those together, that's what good teams do. They pick each other up, they win matches. We had a couple wins where we were the lower seed. We came through and that's what it takes to come from behind."

St. Charles East also place fifth or better in all seven competitions.

Batavia's Maddie Durso and Leah Putin avenged their only conference loss of the season by beating St. Charles East's Jamie McDermott and Elena Malone 7-6 (1), 7-5 to earn the first place ribbon at No. 1 doubles.

"We came out today just thinking we have nothing to lose," said Durso. "We might as well play our game and be as confident as we can be."

"We figured out a strategy that worked for us," added Putin. "We just continued to keep doing what we were doing. Perseverance was a big key in today's matches."

Teammates Katie Connolly and Bella Lins edged Wheaton North's duo of Ally Swanson and Amand Tegart in straight sets (6-2, 6-2) to capture the No. 3 doubles crown.

Wheaton North finished third in the conference with 35.5 points.

At No. 4 doubles, Batavia's Adriana Carbonara and Hailey Durso topped Christina Hull and Serena Thakkar from St. Charles East 6-1, 6-1 in the title match.

Batavia senior Hailey Flannagan bested St. Charles East's Smita Dhar 6-2, 6-2 to take home first place at No. 3 singles.

St. Charles East's Hannah Chapman and Megan Conroy took top honors at No. 2 doubles, downing Batavia's Sophie Cange and Alex Klein in a three-set match that needed two tiebreakers, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (2), 6-3.

Lake Park won both the No. 1 and No. 2 singles titles. Junior Analisa Cruz beat Wheaton Warrenville South's Emily Orlove 6-3, 6-2 to earn the No. 1 singles ribbon.

The windy conditions altered the way Cruz normally plays.

"With the wind, the points are kind of shorter and more strategy was used for slices, drop shots and lobs," Cruz said.

Lake Park freshman Sarah Jankovic bested Emma Beres from WW South 7-6 (4), 6-2 for the No. 2 title.

The Lancers' two top singles winners earned the team fifth place (27) while the Tigers finished fourth (32).