Girls tennis state notebook: Glenbrook North’s Maddy Kahn warms up to state conditions

The temperature didn’t rise to more than 50 degrees during any of Glenbrook North sophomore Maddy Kahn’s five matches at the girls tennis state tournament.

Kahn played three matches in cold, windy conditions at Hoffman Estates High School on Oct. 24. The temperature never exceeded 45 degrees, according to Accuweather.com, and Kahn said she felt a little sore and tight on Friday morning before her matches at Wheeling High School.

“I did stretch more,” Kahn said of changing her routine for the second day of the tournament. “Usually I just run around the courts and then do a dynamic and then start hitting. But I did a longer dynamic, I did a lot of (stationary) stretching and then running stretching as well, just trying to get myself feeling loose. And I had a hot drink in the morning. I usually don’t have that.”

Kahn said her dynamic routine includes exercises such as arm circles, high knees and butt kicks. She said she drank warm milk with vanilla before playing Grant freshman Gaby Schoenberg at 8 a.m. in the fourth round of the consolation draw.

The alterations Kahn made to her pre-match routine worked, as she was the fresher player in a 6-3, 6-2 victory. The temperature was 35 degrees minutes after she defeated Schoenberg, a freshman, and Kahn retreated inside the school to try to escape the cold between matches.

Kahn’s state tournament ended in the next round. A 6-2, 6-3 loss to Mount Carmel senior Tyra Buss left Kahn 3-2 at the state tournament.

MAINE SOUTH

Maine South freshmen Marti Wind and Kamila Czosnyka played in their first state meet, which many players consider their highest-pressure tournament of the season.

Wind and Czosnyka didn’t seek advice about how to handle that pressure before the tournament began, or while they went 3-0 in doubles on Thursday. They did seek advice about how to beat their opponents.

“I’m friends with other coaches too, so they would tell us some hints at what to do and how to beat other teams,” Czosnyka said. “You would always take that into consideration (during matches).”

Czosnyka said she and Wind learned things about their opponents’ serves and how much they attacked the net from those conversations. Both freshmen agreed having that knowledge was helpful, and it helped them to go 3-2 at their first state meet.

“They gave us a head start so we wouldn’t have to figure it out all on our own,” Wind said.

Maine South sophomore Leigh Friedman, like Wind and Czosnyka, went 3-2 at the state tournament.

LOYOLA

The Witkowski sisters — freshman Caroline Witkowski and junior Abby Witkowski — went 1-2 at the state tournament. They opened with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 loss to Blair Hollenbeck and Gabi Papachrisanthou of Belleville West, then beat Rock Island seniors Samantha Carr and Anna Teggatz 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 in their second match of the tournament. They closed with a 6-3, 7-5 loss to Geneva senior Margo Hess and junior Emma Hazel.

EVANSTON

Evanston’s two state entrants, Jessica Ampel in singles and the doubles team of Olivia Luby and Kate Kremin, went 1-2 on the first day of the state meet. Ampel, a sophomore, lost to a pair of seeded players. She fell 6-0, 6-2 to Marian Catholic’s Gaby Rosales, a senior who earned a 5-8 seed. Then after a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Boylan Catholic junior Sarah Rosen, Ampel was eliminated by Grant freshman Gaby Schoenberg 6-3, 6-3.

Luby, a senior, and Kremin, a sophomore, opened with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Mattoon juniors Rachel Kaiser and Sara Stremming. They then lost 6-3, 6-1 to Lyons senior Samantha Sherman and junior Meghan Hickey — the Lions’ doubles team was a 17-32 seed — before falling 6-0, 6-1 to Glenbard South juniors Jenna Brambora and Rachel Rettger.

NILES WEST

Niles West freshman Eliza Kirov had a solid debut at the state tournament, going 2-2 on the first day. Kirov lost only one game in her two victories, but her most grueling match of the day came last. Kirov was eliminated from the tournament when Oswego East sophomore Jaiere Harlow beat her 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in the third round of the consolation draw.

Niles West seniors Kristine Park and Andra Sabou began their tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Lake Forest senior Victoria Falk and junior Colleen Morris, who wound up finishing fourth in the state. Park and Sabou then played Morgan Park senior Shalby Daniel and sophomore West Courtney and fell 6-3, 6-4.