Girls tennis: Strong Saturday for Pirates leads to 3rd at Ottawa Invitational

OTTAWA – It was a long and hot day for the Ottawa girls tennis team, but the Pirates warmed up to the challenge from some bigger schools to place third during the eight-team Ottawa Invite on Saturday at the Henderson-Guenther Tennis Facility.

The Pirates secured one second-place standard, three third-place offerings and a finish for fifth. Ottawa recorded 24 points behind only St. Charles North (27) and event champion Orland Park Sandburg (38).

“It was a good day for us, considering how many really big schools we invite to play in this event,” Ottawa coach Steve Johnson said. “To finish third in this strong field proved that we can compete on a high level versus excellent competition, and I’m very proud of the girls after today.”

The best outcome for the Pirates came from the No. 2 doubles tandem of seniors Emma Walker and Isabel Heimsoth, who captured second-place medals despite getting swept, 6-0, 6-0, in the championship match by Sandburg’s Neela Browne and Tamryn Leonard, who didn’t lose a game all day.

“In our second match, we had to go into a tiebreaker in the third set but managed to come out on top, so we were pretty excited going into the championship match,” Heimsoth said. “But the team we faced in the final was very tough. We did our best and are still happy we made it until the end.”

Ottawa’s No. 1 singles player – junior Emma Cushing – captured third place after a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Cam Youngquist of Metamora. Cushing fell to eventual title winner Josie Canellis of Sandburg, 6-0, 6-1, in the semifinals.

“[Canellis] was pretty good, and I didn’t really have anything I could find in order to beat her,” Cushing said. “But I took a long break, regrouped and got together for the third-place match. Plus, my teammates were there to support me, which really helped me out.”

The Pirates’ No. 2 singles player – junior Layne Krug – also followed Cushing’s path by dropping the semifinal match, 6-0, 6-1, to eventual medalist Browne. Krug then sweated out a hard-fought, 6-3, 7-5 third-place triumph over Maddie Zubel of St. Charles North.

“I was down 5-4 in the second set, and I just wanted to take it point by point to win the match,” Krug said. “I kept telling myself to keep on going and win every point I could, because I didn’t want to go into anything further than that in the heat of the day.”

Ottawa’s No. 1 doubles team of senior Jenna Smithmeyer and junior Rylee O’Fallon placed third as well after falling in the semifinals to St. Charles North’s champions Alyssa Joseph and Shannon Lu,6-0, 6-2.

Smithmeyer and O’Fallon defeated Rolling Meadows’ Amy Orzechowski and Moheni Maletira, 6-0, 6-1, to end their day on a triumphant note.

“We wanted first place today, but we had to do what we needed to do to get third,” O’Fallon said. “We had to restart after the loss in the semis and play our best all over again. It turned out pretty well, and I was happy with how we performed against some very good competition.”

The Pirates concluded the long day in the sun when juniors Makensie Eichelkraut and Mika Moreland placed fifth with a shortened 8-6, third-set win over Minooka’s Holly Foskett and Kennedi Thomas during No. 3 doubles.

“After today, I’m encouraged,” Johnson said. “We’ll see what we can do moving forward next week against Kaneland in conference.”