Naperville North badminton players Kyleen Jan and Jessica Hu have played each other countless times in practice and offseason training, but until Thursday had never faced off in a match that counted.
Their first encounter was a classic as Hu upset top-seeded Jan 21-18, 19-21, 22-20 to win the Naperville North Sectional singles championship.
Hu (29-1), who is the Huskies’ No. 2 singles player behind Jan, trailed 19-17 in the third set before rallying for the win.
“It was tough for both of us,” Hu said. “It was a close match and to be honest it could have gone either way.”
The two juniors had already secured their spots in next week’s state finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, so neither had much to lose, though the winner probably will secure a higher seed.
Jan (20-3) was battling pink eye in both eyes, but didn’t give Hu an inch.
“She kind of started off a little shaky but she definitely got a little smoother at the end,” Hu said. “It was definitely pretty tough because we train together in the offseason and we’re always playing together during practice. I feel we got to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses well from the time we play together.”
The doubles final also ended in a mildly surprising result as Downers Grove North seniors Kelsey Stallter and Lucy Liu knocked off top-seeded Amber McClain and Tia McClain of East Aurora 21-17, 21-15.
Stallter and Liu (14-1), the No. 2 seeds, earned their first state tournament berth despite never having played together until the start of this season. They won their first tournament of the season but then played with different partners before Downers North coach Anthony Calderone reunited them last week.
“They’re starting to click,” Calderone said. “They’re moving real good right now so I’m real happy with where they’re at.”
Stallter knew the Trojans had a tall task because this was one of the toughest sectionals in the state.
“I was really excited,” Stallter said. “I’m kind of speechless. It’s a great feeling because there’s a lot of tough competition here and it felt really good that all of our hard work paid off.”
Downers North, which was thought to be having a down year, will be sending five girls to state as the doubles team of juniors Shatien Jordan and Maria McConaughy and junior singles player Kiley Pooler also advanced.
“We just kept working hard,” Stallter said. “We never really gave up. I think some people really expected us to not be good but we just worked hard because we wanted it.”
Naperville North also got five through, with sophomores Clare Jiang and Stephanie Chen qualifying in doubles.
While the McClain sisters fell short of winning their first sectional title, they head to state with a 40-10 record and a chance to become the first doubles players in East Aurora history to win a state medal.
“They played really well,” East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries said. “They won the matches they were supposed to win and I was very impressed with their semifinal win [a three-setter over Jordan and McConaughy].The championship they kind of let it get away from them a little bit, but it was a learning experience.”
