High school girls tennis: Crystal Lake South wins Class 2A Cary-Grove Sectional

CARY – Ahead of this weekend's Class 2A Cary-Grove Sectional, Crystal Lake South tennis coach Don Nead surveyed the competition and made a calculated shakeup.

Nead decided to pair up his Nos. 1 and 2 singles players, Skylar Olsen and Hannah Rakofsky, as a doubles team.

"In a sectional, every coach has to take a look to see what are the best chances for us to send somebody to state," Nead said. "You take a look at the singles draw, there were four really strong girls in singles. So you play the odds. The odds were we have a better chance in doubles – turned out it paid off. It could have backfired, but the girls came through for us."

It first paid off Friday with the Gators qualifying both doubles teams for state, and on Saturday it continued to pay dividens as Crystal Lake South won the Class 2A Cary-Grove Sectional team title.

The doubles pairings of Olsen/Rakofsky and Claire Atkinson/Julia Kopfman are South's first state qualifiers since 2013. Both pairings lost their semifinals Saturday, but in an all-Gators third-place match, Olsen and Rakofsky beat Atkinson and Kopfman, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

"This weekend was the best we've ever had," Atkinson said. "Honestly, us both qualifying for state and everything, it's great."

Also key to the victory, although it didn't happen Saturday, was singles wins Friday by South's Rachel Anklam and Alicia Rasmussen. Although they didn't advance to state, the two eash won a match Friday, and those points ended up helping make the difference.

"Everybody had to score, and that's what happened, and that's how we were able to kind of slide in there and get this," Nead said. "Without every one of our players coming through, it wouldn't have happened, so it was a team affair, and that's good."

The Gators took the title, their first since 2002, by one point over Jacobs.

"I knew kind of where the points stacked up, and South had a great tournament," Jacobs coach Jon Betts said. "Obviously, coach Nead made the right call moving his two singles players over to doubles and it paid off, they all played great throughout the tournament. ... They played and I was really happy with how our girls played, but it didn't go our way this time."

The Golden Eagles also are sending two entries to state: Haley Steinkamp in singles and the team of Katie Toomire and Kylie Skepnek in doubles.

"I'm just so proud of how we played together," Toomire said. "The communication was there, so being strong every single game of the tournament basically got us there."

Toomire/Skepnek was the only local duo to reach a sectional championship match Saturday after beating South's Atkinson/Kopfman, 7-5, 6-2, in the semifinals. The pair took second after losing, 6-3, 6-2, to Carmel's Karina Falkstrom/Marie Kapelevich.

"There's a lot of positives from that," Betts said. "Of course a (6-)3, (6-)2 loss never feels great, but against a team of that caliber, it's hard to be too upset about how we played against two players that are some of the best in the state. I think that'll be good preparation heading into the state tournament. ... Hopefully, that's something to build on, and now we're ready for that pace and that level of intensity."

Steinkamp and Skepnek are first-time state qualifiers, while Toomire went last season.

"I'm so excited, I can't wait, I really can't," Skepnek said.

Prairie Ridge's Annie Timm qualified for her third consecutive state tournament Friday and took third place in the singles draw Saturday.

"It feels really good because now this is my third year and I didn't even expect to qualify once, so this is a really good feeling," Timm said.

Timm began the day with a long battle against Mundelein's Isabel Alvair, losing 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

"I was just trying to go all out because I know I had nothing to lose, because she's a really good player," Timm said. "So I know that no matter what, I should just play my best, and I actually ended up pulling off a few games from her. I'm really proud of my effort that I put into that, and I'm really happy about the score, too."

In the third-palce singles match, Timm beat Steinkamp, 6-0, 6-2, their second meeting in as many weeks after facing off Oct. 8 in the Fox Valley Conference Tournament final.

Wauconda's Sarah Hackman – who beat Steinkamp, 6-1, 7-5 in the semifinals – won the singles draw with a win over Alviar, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, in the final match of the day.

"Being able to play again great competition I enjoy it the whole time," Steinkamp said. "I don't grudge it, I look forward to that, so I can try to better my game and mirror myself after other players I look up to."