Girls tennis: Lepsi, WW South rise to top of DuKane Conference

Riley Lepsi continues to top the charts.

It doesn't appear that ascension will stop anytime soon.

Lepsi, a Wheaton Warrenville South freshman, is quite the phenom for the Tigers. Lepsi is the No. 1-ranked prospect in Illinois according to the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Behind Lepsi and a collective team effort, the Tigers captured the DuKane Conference title after a dominating dual season and continued their success into the two-day tournament with a total of 76 combined points from dual points and tournament points.

It broke Batavia's four-year streak as conference champs. Wheaton North (71) and Batavia (54) followed in second and third, respectively.

Lepsi won the No. 1 singles title with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Batavia's Julia Arulandu in the finals, one of three total first place finishes for WW South. Tigers' junior Brooke Ittersagen at No. 2 singles took down Wheaton North's Hunter Tomkins 6-1, 6-3, while No. 2 doubles Janna Kim and Katie Muff prevailed 6-4, 6-2 over Batavia's Casey O'Brien and Emma Larson.

"It's so fun to have her on the team," Ittersagen said of Lepsi. "She's so gifted. She's so good. It's fun to have her and hit with her."

Lepsi began playing tennis at around 3 years old. Her aunt, Margie, - a former two-time IHSA singles champion in the 1990s - was an early influence, introducing Lepsi to the sport. She now leaves school every day at 10:45 a.m. to hit tennis balls at her club 30 minutes away.

"We're very fortunate this season. We have a bunch of good athletes. I'm a junior, so the past two years, we've never come this close to winning," Ittersagen said. "Lot of talented people; we've done super well this season. We went 7-0 in conference [duals] and even out of conference matches, I think we had one loss against York."

Wheaton North edged WWS in tournament points 33-32, thanks in large part to four first place finishes.

No. 3 singles Julia Grygorchuk prevailed over Anna Ittersagen 6-3, 6-2; No. 1 doubles Kaylee Phillips and Stella Tarsha beat St. Charles North's Danielle Dejanovich and Reese Thomas 6-3, 4-6, 10-6.

Wheaton North's No. 3 doubles Grace Ekstrand and Julia Russell beat the Tigers' Alexis Townsend and Kelsey Clousing 3-6, 6-4, 10-3; while No. 4 doubles Rose Hama Rasheed and Ellie Postma defeated WW South's Ellie Seifert and Faith Gaul 7-6, 6-4.

Falcons No. 1 singles Hannah Swanson took fourth; Tomkins took second in No. 2 singles; and No. 2 doubles Saede Berner and Jelena Krstic took third.

"This is for sure my most competitive and deepest team top to bottom," Falcons coach Eric Laird said. "Our singles lineup...Hannah and Hunter, on any given day, go back and forth and they're both really No. 1 players. Julia, who is a freshman, she is actually undefeated in singles at 21-0 [when she plays there]...To have them setting our singles lineup was awesome. Hannah is a four-year player; Hunter moved here last year; this is her first year playing for us, and was obviously a really nice addition."

"Kaylee and Stella, this is their second year playing No. 1 doubles and second year as DKC champions," Laird continued. "...I knew [Jelena and Saede] would be a strong doubles team at No. 2 for us and they've had a really nice season as well. Lost a heartbreaker to Batavia in the semis [super tiebreaker] 15-13 they finished strong in the third match today."

Batavia's No. 1 doubles of Erin Connolly and Addi Lowe and No. 3 doubles Emily Newburn and Ainsley Steinys each took third for the Bulldogs.

St. Charles East's Camila Lopez took third at No. 3 singles, while St. Charles North's Shannon Lu took third in No. 2 singles and Alli Gizewicz took third in No. 1 singles.

Gizewicz primarily stays at singles, but occasionally plays doubles.

"Mainly, I'm doing that because I have a torn [right] labrum in my shoulder [dating back to the beginning of last season] so I just try and balance through a season and really pick which ones I can and can't play," Gizewicz said. "...I didn't play for half the year [last year] and this year, it started flaring up again...usually just try my best with it."

Despite the nagging injury, Gizewicz shows a competitive spirit for her North Stars.

"I really think about my team, representing my school and really just fighting for every single match because I know it's my last season," Gizewicz continued. "Trying to make the most of it, even with the challenge. I'm the captain of the team, so just showing that you can keep that even through adversity."