Girls Tennis: Hinsdale Central, Fenwick teams in the hunt for state title after first day

Timothy Christian will send its entire team into second-round action on Friday at the Class 1A state tennis tournament all across all four flights as it looks to chase down Chicago Latin and Fenwick, both with 20 points, plus Triad, which stands two points clear of the Trojans.

“I could have told you last year that Fenwick would be the team to beat with everyone coming back, but we’ll give it everything we have during the next two days,” Mills said.

His No. 1, Crystina Lee, will face Chicago Wolcott’s Brooklyn Siegel Friday morning in her quarterfinal after three consecutive straight set victories.

“Crystina has played up to her potential this season, and her game has improved at every level this season,” continued Mills of Lee, who advanced into the consolation semis a year ago.

Jane Carter, a 5-8 seed just as Lee, won four here last fall. She will look to add another win or two this season beginning with her fourth round consolation match Friday.

Clarissa Chen and Angie Tornabene were 3-1 on the day.

“We’re proud of the fact that we are one of the smallest of all 1A schools (enrollment of 400), but are still able to hold our own against the big guys. We hope to continue doing so tomorrow,” Mills said.

Fenwick, tied with Chicago Latin after the first day of action across the northern suburbs, advanced both its singles state qualifiers to the quarterfinals. Fenwick’s Lily Brecknock will face Richmond’s Savannah Webb in a quarterfinal and Fenwick’s Megan Trifilio will face Hersey’s Meredith Garcia in another quarterfinal.

Fenwick’s doubles team of Trinity Hardin and Kate Trifilio also advanced to the quarterfinals, where they will face Chicago University’s Sanskriti Sarav and Paola Almeda on Friday.

Reigning 2A state champion Hinsdale Central is chasing leader New Trier (20-18) while York and Glenbard West remain in the top 10 heading into day No. 2

The Red Devils have all of their teams alive, including 3-4 seed Sophia Kim, and her teammates at doubles, Bridget Novatney and Nicole Hu, also a 3-4 seed.

Kim will face Glenbard West’s Mira Kernagis in a quarterfinal Friday. Hinsdale Central’s doubles team of Bridget Novatney and Nicole Hu also reached the quarterfinals and will face New Trier’s Keri Rothenberg and Lucy Parrilli.

York’s Lizzie Isyanov, a 5-8 seed, was perfect in three matches Thursday, and will now face top-seed Sarah Wang from Stevenson in the quarters, with 9-16 Keira Polach and Lindsey White looking to came back through the back-draw.

Glenbard West star Kernagis dropped just three games on the day, and now the 5-8 seed will face Kim of Hinsdale Central.

The area will have several still alive in the back-draw, hoping to not only earn valuable points for their respective clubs, but also continue on the road to a potential spot in the final day of action.

Hinsdale South sophomore Chloe Goins, a 9-16 seed, remains alive in the back-draw. So are doubles teams Kate Southworth-Emily Whitmer (Downers Grove North), Kaley McCabe-Lauren Morton (Wheaton Warrenville South) and singles players Gabby David (Downers Grove South) and Brooke Ittersagen (WW South).

The Benet duo of Shane Delaney and Clare Lopatka (21-4) who helped their club win a sixth straight ESCC title, won their first two before falling in straight sets to top-seed Isabelle Chong and Lainey Oneil from Lake Forest.

“Shane and Clare really like each other. They get along so well on and off the court, and it shows in how they play the game of tennis,” Benet coach Michael Hand said.

Next up for Delaney and Lopatka is the Glenbard West team of Norah Chirila and Audrey Creswell Friday morning at Wheeling.