High school girls tennis: Jacobs holds off Cary-Grove for FVC dual win

ALGONQUIN – Jacobs’ Sam Seibert and Alison Gerhardt and Cary-Grove’s Mary Greenwald and Chloe Sorensen became the center of attention in No. 2 doubles Tuesday at their Fox Valley Conference- dual match.

Theirs was the last dual of the match, so with each point, teammates on both sides cheered wildly. The participants did not realize that the previous six matches were split and everything came down to their battle.

“I guess there was less pressure not knowing, but everyone was cheering a lot,” Gerhardt said. “We don’t really like big crowds around us, but it’s still good to have the support.”

Seibert and Gerhardt held on for a 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4 victory, giving the Golden Eagles a 4-3 team win. Jacobs (5-0) has not lost an FVC dual since 2018.

“We’re not the people to like (the attention),” Seibert said. “But in the end, it was fun and a good experience. At the beginning we were really strong. We kind of struggled in the second set, but we really thought about teamwork and working together to overcome Cary-Grove.”

Jacobs coach Jon Betts had no difficulty coming up with winners of the match’s game balls. He tossed one each to Seibert and Gerhardt in the postgame meeting.

Trojans coach Therese Youel was thrilled with her team’s performance, even with the loss.

“That was very exciting,” she said. “I would rather play that every day then have a 7-0 win.”

Chloe Siegfort and Isha Desai won at Nos. 1 and 2 singles for Jacobs, and Lara Santa-Ines and Kaya Trumbo won at No. 1 doubles.

“We knew Cary-Grove was going to be tough,” Betts said. “They’re always a tough team. I was impressed with our girls, they made good adjustments, putting some of the things we’ve been stressing in practice. It’s good to see them adjust and react to what Cary-Grove’s doing.”

C-G got a long two-set win at No. 3 singles from Annabella Gaffaney, a win at No. 4 doubles from Kim Klawitter and Brooke Iversen and a three-set win at No. 3 doubles from Nicki Carpatiuc and Lexie Soltis.

Siegfort, the FVC defending No. 1 singles champion, beat C-G’s Sara Greenwald, 6-1, 6-2.

“I just kept my composure well and stuck to my game,” Siegfort said. “Sara got to balls and was a great player. I just had to keep hitting and moving her around.”

Santa-Ines and Trumbo defeated Kate Larry and Katie Jannusch, 6-1, 6-4.

“Their energy level went up and we lost a little bit of our momentum there for a second,” Trumbo said. “But we got it back and lifted each other up and had faith in our shots.”

Jacobs 4, Cary-Grove 3

Singles

No. 1: Chloe Siegfort (J) d. Sara Greenwald 6-1, 6-2.

No. 2: Isha Desai (J) d. Gwenn Moran 6-0, 6-0.

No. 3: Annabella Gaffaney (CG) d. Bryn Reicha 6-2, 7-6 (7-0).

Doubles

No. 1: Lara Santa-Ines/Kaya Trumbo (J) d. Kate Larry/Katie Jannusch 6-1, 6-4.

No. 2: Sam Seibert/Alison Gerhardt (J) d. Mary Greenwald/Chloe Sorensen 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4.

No. 3: Nicki Carpatiuc/Lexie Soltis (CG) d. Anya Wieczorek/Lissie Kontos 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

No. 4: Kim Klawitter/Brooke Iversen (CG) d. Stef Bogs/Amelia Stoner 6-2, 6-2.