Elgin, Cary-Grove struggle
Geneva girls tennis coach Maureen Weiler had every reason to smile.
The Vikings' coach watched with great delight as her team posted a 3-0 record at Saturday's Cary-Grove Invitational, held at the Cary-Grove High School tennis courts.
"We have only five kids with varsity experience and are playing a lot of kids who played junior varsity a year ago," said Weiler. "Every thing is falling into place nicely. We are looking pretty good."
Geneva (13-5), which lost only one match all day, defeated Cary-Grove 4-1 and blanked Elgin and Rockton Hononegah by the identical 5-0 score.
Sophomore Kayla Fujimoto, playing No. 1 singles, won all 3 of her matches without losing a game.
At No. 2 2 singles, Jamie Potts claimed all 3 matches losing just 1 game.
In No. 1 doubles, Blair Selakavich-Mary Pelling won all 3 of their matches while Liz Bertrand-Krista Panko were a perfect 3-0 at No. 2 doubles.
The host Trojans (12-7) were a disappointing 1-2 on the day, losing to Geneva 4-1 and Hononegah 3-2 while defeating Elgin 4-1.
"We knew Geneva was a very very good team with a great program," said Cary-Grove coach Bud Lachel, who recently picked up his 800th career win.
"We were disappointed that we lost to Hononegah. This is a good tournament because we play different teams and we get to learn a lot about ourselves. I like our improvement."
The highlight of the day for Cary-Grove was the play of the No. 3 doubles duo of Rachel Kuchta-Megan Wleklinski. The Trojan doubles team posted a 3-0 mark which included a 6-4, 7-6 win over Geneva's Emily Baumar-Alexa Rogers.
The Trojans' No. 1 doubles team of Susanne Johnson-Courtney Koepke won 2 matches.
The lone singles win on the day for Cary-Grove came at No. 2 when Erin Aiello outlasted Elgin's Jennifer Meyer 6-4, 4-6 7-5 (13-11).
It was a long day for Elgin as the Maroons were blanked by Hononegah and Geneva 5-0 and were defeated by Cary-Grove 4-1.
The lone win on the day for the Maroons was earned by Rebekah Hegel at No. 1 singles. Hegel defeated Hayley Prihuda of Cary-Grove 6-0, 6-1.
"It was a very long day for the Elgin Maroons," said Elgin coach Larry DeHaan, "We had some very tight matches. This is a tournament with three very good teams. I always enjoy coming here."