LAKE VILLA — Lake Zurich girls tennis coach Marcus Sipiera has four doubles players he likes. The hard part is settling on which combination of the four he wants to put in which positions.
“I’ve put so many teams at No. 1,” Sipiera said. “I don’t know what I want to do.”
Sipiera’s lineup for the North Suburban Conference tournament at Lakes over the weekend provided a postseason sneak peak. The Bears used senior Gabi Bendfeldt and junior Brenna Casey at No. 1 doubles. They won their opening match before losing 6-0, 6-0 to Lake Forest’s No. 1 team of Zoe Park and Brynn Carlson in Friday’s second round.
But the team distinguished itself in the back draw, winning two matches without dropping a set. Bendfeldt and Casey clinched fifth place after Vernon Hills’ No. 1 team of Shreya Kathuria and Jillian Roussel withdrew Saturday morning.
“We got in some good matches,” Sipiera said. “They are working on things. I can’t complain about our finish.”
The Bears’ No. 2 doubles team of seniors Stephanie Johnson and Emily Leahy came into the conference tournament seeded No. 4. This is their first year as a pairing, and they’ve had some impressive victories that include a first-place trophy at the Crystal Lake Central tournament Sept. 27.
They have the necessary complementary skills for a doubles pairing. Johnson is a grinding baseliner and Leahy a strong volleyer. One skill they share is the ability to return serves.
“Mostly, it’s about being consistent,” Johnson said. “Against the harder teams, if you keep hitting shots back, they are destined to mess up.”
Johnson and Leahy got through the first two rounds at Lakes. A straight-set loss to eventual champions Zoe Taylor and Kaylin Dong of Stevenson in the semifinals sent them into Saturday’s third-place match against Libertyville’s Tanvi Patel and Ola Grabowski.
A 6-0, 6-4 loss meant a fourth-place finish that matched their seed.
“We did what we were expecting to do,” Leahy said. “I thought we achieved the way we wanted to play. It’s important for sectional seeding.”
Lake Zurich’s No. 3 doubles team of seniors Maggie Hilton and Jamie Pryhuber also lost a third-place match, falling 6-1, 6-1 to Libertyville’s Gabby Struik and Rosanna Chen.
In singles, the Bears’ No. 1 player, senior Mary Sinclair, and No. 2, junior Anna Lueken, managed three victories combined in both the front and back draws.
Lake Zurich’s fifth-place team finish in the tournament won by Stevenson was due to the strength of its doubles play. All four conference meet doubles players will be in the lineup in some combination for the sectional tournament, hosted by Stevenson and beginning Thursday at the Vernon Hills Athletic Complex.
“We’re trying to find the right combination that works,” Sipiera said. “[Conference] is the best combination that I’ve seen.”
