BUFFALO GROVE – One of Edwardsville's doubles teams remained alive going into Saturday's final day of the IHSA Class 2A Girls Tennis Championship in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove Friday.
Tigers’ head tennis coach Dave Lipe said qualifying a tandem for the semifinals in doubles was the highest ever mark for Edwardsville girls tennis.
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The team of Grace Desse/Morgan Colbert reached the quarterfinals with a third-round win over Sara Amano/Nidah Jah of Barrrington 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, then defeated Winnetka New Trier's Michelle Capone/Amia Ross to move into the quarterfinals, where they will meet Hinsdale Central's Erike Ohu/Megan Guenther.
Edwardsville's remaining singles entry, Natalie Karibian, dropped a 6-1, 6-2 decision to Joliet West's Eileen Carney in the third consolation round to be eliminated.
The finals in both Class 1A and 2A are set for Saturday.
“It went great today,” Lipe said. “Grace and Morgan won both matches today. The girls won their round of 16 and quarterfinal so they are in the semifinals tomorrow. They won both three-set matches and came from behind with dramatic wins against quality opponents. Barrington and New Trier are two excellent teams. The kids are looking forward to playing tomorrow.”
Colbert and Desse were enjoying themselves after their last match, both relishing in the pair of Friday wins en route to the semifinals.
“Today, we had a great day,” Colbert said. “We played mentally tough the entire day. Tomorrow, we want to play well and keep having fun. We also want to keep mentally strong. It is an accomplishment to get to the semifinals.”
Desse agreed with Colbert, that it was great to play their way already to their seed.
“We just show we belong in the spot we were put in and we are going to just keep playing good competition and loving every moment,” she said. The next couple of matches will be really tough. We just want to up our game and play even better.”
Coach Lipe said he was so proud of how his doubles team kept on track, even after falling behind in their matches.
“One message I have given them consistently in the tournament is you will be down and at that moment how you respond will define your tournament,” he said. “That helped the girls today. They did not panic and they kept their poise. It was a big day.”
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