Rain relocates
state tennis inside
By ROB SMITH – rsmith@nwherald.com
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| Prairie Ridge's Carolyn Huerth watches her serve during Thursday's state tennis tournament at Centre Court Athletic Club in Hanover Park.
(Jeff Krage – For The Northwest Herald) |
HANOVER PARK – Rain led to a change in plans on the opening day of the IHSA Girls Tennis Tournament, and the Prairie Ridge doubles team of Allison Murphy and Carolyn Huerth took advantage.
With rain predicted all day, IHSA officials acted quickly to move the tournament indoors.
With the limited availability of indoor courts, the back-draw was eliminated, making it a single elimination tournament.
Murphy and Huerth, the No. 3-4 seed in doubles, won their first two matches at the Centre Court Athletic Club on Thursday.
Crystal Lake Central’s Nelle Youel also won her first two matches. All other local players were eliminated in the first round.
Huerth is battling illness and welcomed the opportunity to get out of the rain and cold to play their matches.
“I’m glad that we played indoors,” Huerth said. “My chest is tight. It would have gotten worse if we played outdoors.”
Prairie Ridge coach Jessica Fetzner said that although the warm, dry atmosphere was a benefit, she has confidence in her tournament savvy team in any situation.
“Because they’ve both played so many USTA tournaments, it doesn’t matter where they play,” Fetzner said.
The Wolves duo lived up to their seed, losing just one game in the first two rounds. Murphy and Huerth defeated Maria Mears and Michaela Kearney from Champaign Centennial, 6-0, 6-0, in the first round and Chelsea Cross and Kylie Pickel, 6-1, 6-0, in the second.
Fetzner said that although the matches were not close, it gave her team an opportunity to work on their game, particularly serving and volleying.
“They played very well,” Fetzner said. “They played with confidence.”
In the third round today, Murphy and Huerth will see their first seeded team – Mundelein’s Paige Parola and Ali MacDonald, a 17-32 seed. It took Parola and MacDonald three sets to defeat Angelina Goheen and Katie King from Rosary to get to the third round.
In the first round, MacDonald strained her back while serving, which limited her mobility and ability to serve. For the remainder of the first round and the entire second-round match, MacDonald was only able to put the ball in play on her service by hitting it underhand softly.
How well MacDonald is able to bounce back today could be an important factor in the match with Murphy and Huerth.
Youel, a 17-32 seed, also dominated her first two matches. In the first round, she defeated Valerie Strasser from downstate Highland, 6-0, 6-0.
In the second round she defeated New Trier freshman Anna Kaplan, 6-1, 6-1. Kaplan won the Niles North Sectional.
Next up for Youel is Katie Zordani from Lake Forest, a 9-16 seed.
With rain predicted again today, the tournament likely will continue indoors. Because of the limited availability of courts at certain sites, some players only played one match. Typically three rounds are completed the first day of the tournament.
