Girls tennis: Stevenson, Lake Forest tie for NSC title

The North Suburban Conference meet in girls tennis always serves as a good tune up to sectionals.

And Stevenson, which shared the state title two years ago, finished tied for first with host Lake Forest on Thursday as the meet was held in advance of inclement weather.

Stevenson won the dual meet part of the season, so it shares the conference crown with the Scouts.

"I am very proud of the way the girls fought and represented themselves during the conference tournament," said Patriots first-year coach Alexxis Kiven. "I'm excited for sectionals. We have a young team at singles and I can't wait to see them grow into their roles."

At No. 1 singles, top-seeded and reigning state champion Kiley Rabjohns repeated as conference champion after defeating Libertyville's Lily VanDixhorn 6-1, 6-1.

At No. 2 singles, top-seeded Autumn Rabjohns of Lake Forest cruised to the conference title after defeating second seeded Maggie Forkner of Libertyville 6-1, 6-1.

And, at No. 3 singles, second-seeded Thea Surya of Stevenson won a tough 6-4, 7-5 decision in upsetting Lake Forest top seed Alex Slomba.

Then in doubles action, the Lake Forest second-seeded tandem of Nika Belova and Salma Alsikafi upset the top-seeded Kolli sisters - Athena and Alaina of Stevenson - 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Lake Forest also picked up a conference title at No. 2 doubles when Lili and Clara Goshgarian defeated Stevenson's Maggie Gong and Ellen Ma 6-1, 6-1.

At No. 3 doubles, top-seeded Olivia Wheldon and Elaine O'Neil of Lake Forest beat Stevenson's second-seeded duo of Alexis Lee and Angela Ran 7-6 (6), 6-1.

The Pats then won another conference title when the No. 4 doubles team of top-seeded Sneha Yellapantula and Abby Schueneman outlasted Lake Forest's Grace Gescheidle and Keaton Wilhelm 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The Scouts and Stevenson each scored 15 points, while Libertyville was third (12), Warren fourth (10), and Lake Zurich and Mundelein fifth (7).

"We are looking forward to another tough competition and will continue to hold ourselves at the highest of standards," added Kiven.

Lake Forest will be in the Highland Park sectional, while Stevenson will host its own sectional starting on Friday. The Kolli sisters are the defending sectional champs in doubles, while junior VanDixhorn of Libertyville will try for another sectional title in singles play.