Girls tennis: Scouting the 2021 season in Lake County
No Megan Heuser.
No Kiley Rabjohns.
Graduation 2021 removed the pair of aces from Lake County girls tennis rosters. Lakes product Heuser, the 2019 Class 1A state singles champ, gets to rip winners for the Illini. Lake Forest alumna Rabjohns, the Class 2A singles champion in 2018 and 2019, is all set to don purple and bruise tennis balls at Northwestern.
Heuser's dominance in her junior season - her senior season last fall, like everybody's season, ended after sectional action because of the coronavirus pandemic - is worth revisiting. The Eagle and two-time third-place finisher at state went undefeated in the regular season and then lost a combined 7 games in 6 state matches.
The scores in Heuser's quarterfinal, semifinal and final matches: 6-1, 6-1; 6-0, 6-1; and 6-1, 6-1.
Blink, blink, blink.
Rabjohns and her sister, Autumn (fifth place in singles, when she was a freshman), paced the Scouts to the program's sixth state team title in 2019.
"Girls tennis in Lake County was star-studded in Lake County in recent years, especially at No. 1 singles," Antioch coach Jamie D'Andrea said. "The field should open up a bit this year, but I anticipate the competition still being tough."
Don't expect many to look forward to facing Libertyville's top singles players. Junior Maggie Forkner finished seventh-eighth in singles at the 2019 Class 2A state meet as a freshman, and Wildcats freshman Lena Dogadalski has a game that's part brilliant, part formidable.
Tennis Recruiting Network rated each a 4-star (out of 5) recruit.
"They'll be quite a 1-2 punch for us," said Libertyville coach Dan Kiernan, whose 2019 squad placed eighth at state, three spots behind Stevenson. "Lena is well-rounded and has been impressive. Lots of talent. Maggie looks great, as well."
Libertyville's top doubles player, senior Alexandra Berns, qualified for state in doubles two seasons ago.
First-year Stevenson coach Jose Morales, who succeeded Alexxis Kiven, inherited 2019 state singles qualifiers Sonia Mehta and Ainika Hou, a pair of juniors, and welcomed splendid sophomore Sarah Wang and promising freshman Sophia Shlyakhta.
"It's very clear to me that the entire varsity squad worked hard in the offseason to bring their A-game this fall," Morales said. "I expect solid performances from all of them throughout the season."
Other Lake County singles players to watch include two-time 1A state singles qualifier Karishma Bhalla, a Grayslake Central senior; Lake Zurich freshman Katrine Boianov; Antioch senior Natalie Labicki; Carmel Catholic senior co-captain Alex Monroe; Grant junior Eli Rasborschek; and Grayslake North junior Isabella Moran.
Potent Lake County doubles teams include Wauconda seniors Megan Hackman/Sophia Esquivel, a top 9-12 finisher at the 1A state meet in 2019; Berns and Libertyville sophomore Hadley Warren; Carmel juniors Mary Titterton/Emily Fix, "a dynamic duo," Corsairs coach Chris Kannenberg noted; Grant sisters Gianna Vavalle (senior)/Angie Vavalle (freshman); Grayslake Central seniors Grace Caldwell/Aviva Krill; Lake Zurich freshmen Summer Fabsik/Tessa Fabsik; and Vernon Hills seniors Shriya Avula/Ratika Dashaputra.
Lakes' leader-laden crew features seniors Siera Tatarynowicz, Allison Rian, Natalie Deguzman and Katelyn Pfeifer. Warren will rely on returning seniors Natalie Zamora, Elizabeth Payson, Isabel Grimes, Isha Bordawekar and Jayalakshima Ganapathi-Subramanian, as well as Blue Devils freshman Anastasia Radovic. And Mundelein's top five seniors are Georgia Bousis, Hannah Earich, Emma Kelly, Brenda Mondragon and Teresa Burk.
"Lake County tennis, once again, will be stacked with standouts in singles," said Lakes coach and former Antioch coach Bryan Plinske, who has coached boys and girls tennis teams in District 117 since the mid-1990s. "Last year was tough, with kids being denied the opportunity to experience the state meet, the Big Show, for the first time because of the pandemic.
"This fall," he added, "will be about making the most of the opportunities given to us. I'm excited to see that. We'll all see that, as long as we do the right things from now until the end of the state series."
Dinks: Vernon Hills, a 1A school that went 11-9-1 last fall, vies for state berths against 2A netters this fall. ... Grayslake North coach Jill Tomasello plans to start her maternity leave in about three weeks; Ashley Kopecky will guide the Knights for the rest of the season. ... Carmel senior doubles player Lauren Jenkins is serving as the Corsairs' other captain. Carmel won last fall's Vernon Hills sectional.