BUFFALO GROVE - Edwardsville's girls' tennis program is always strong under Head Coach Dave Lipe and his staff. The girls had considerable success in both the sectional and state tournaments in the post-season.
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Lipe's girls won the sectional championship at home on Oct. 15 and then performed well at state in both singles and doubles competitions the weekend of Oct. 20-22.
The doubles team of Zoe and Sophie Byron of Edwardsville went through to the fourth round of the consolation doubles bracket in the Class 2A Girls State Tennis Tournament Friday at Buffalo Grove High School and venues throughout northwest suburban Chicagoland.
For the Tigers in Class 2A, Chloe Koons was eliminated in the fourth round of the consolation bracket by Julia Ross of Winnetka New Trier 6-3, 7-6 (7-4 in the tiebreak). Meanwhile, in the doubles, the Byron sisters also lost their only match of the day, falling to Mariel and Gabby Runyon of Bloomington 6-0, 6-2, ending Edwardsville’s stay in the tournament.
Edwardsville’s Koons, along with the doubles team of Sophie and Zoe Byron, went through to the fourth round of the consolation bracket, but Gabi Hill and the doubles team of Alyssa Wise and Katie Woods were eliminated on the opening day of the IHSA Class 2A girls tennis state tournament on Thursday In Buffalo Grove and other venues in northwest suburban Chicagoland.
Koons won the first two matches of the tournament, winning over Gabby David of Downers Grove South 6-0, 6-0, then won a hard-fought three-set match over Alina Shyani of Palatine Fremd 4-6, 6-2, 11-9. Koons then lost in the third round to Lizzie Isyanov of Elmhurst York 6-2, 6-3.
Hill fell in her opener to Brooklyn Aldridge of Homewood-Flossmoor 6-2, 6-1, then in the first round of the consolation bracket. She lost to Lauren Dell’Acqua of Roselle Lake Park 6-4, 6-4, and was eliminated.
In doubles, Wise and Woods lost their first match to Isabelle Chong and Lainey O'Neil of Lake Forest 6-1, 6-1, but bounced back to win in the first round of the consolation bracket over Isabella Wallin and Thea Salcedo of Plainfield North 6-3, 6-0. However, they were eliminated with a loss in the second round to Victoria Yin and Tanisha Aggarwal of Naperville Neuqua Valley 6-4, 3-6, 15-13.
The Byron sisters won their opener over Sofia Parranto and Anika Srinivasan of Aurora Waubonsie Valley 6-1, 6-4, but lost in the second round to Natalie Schoen and Abigail Lee of Deerfield 6-1, 6-1. The pair bounced back to win their match in the second round of the consolation bracket over O’Fallon’s Isabell Wells and Natalie Spihlman 3-6, 6-2, 10-4, then won over Sakina Kanji and Emily Yang of Barrington 6-2, 6-1. The Byrons will next play Mariel and Gabby Runyon of Bloomington in the fourth round of the consolation bracket.
Edwardsville Captures Sectional With 35 Points
EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville girls tennis senior Chloe Koons qualified for her fourth consecutive IHSA state tournament and will be joined in singles by Gabi Hill, while the doubles teams of Zoe and Sophie Byron and Alyssa Wise and Katie Woods finished one-two as the Tigers once again won the Class 2A sectional tournament on Oct. 14-15 at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
The Tigers won with 35 points, with Belleville East coming in second with 18 points, O'Fallon was third with 15 points, Belleville West and Springfield tied for fourth with 10 points each, Quincy placed sixth with eight points, Granite City was seventh with four points, Collinsville was eighth with two points and Alton failed to score.
Edwardsville head girls tennis coach Dave Lipe said it was "an amazing weekend for an amazing team," when he talked about his squad in the sectional.
"These girls out-performed expectations and played by far their best tennis of the year," he said of the sectional.
In the singles, Koons received a bye in the first round, then defeated Eleanor Schuler of Alton 6-0, 6-0, then won over Caroline Stelling of the Lancers 6-0, 6-0 to qualify for state, as the top four finishers in both singles and doubles go through to state. Hill also received a first-round bye, then in the second round, won over Morgan Keefe of Belleville West 6-1, 6-1, and won her quarterfinal match over Bela Sanghavi of O'Fallon 6-4, 6-2 to qualify for state.
In the semifinals, Koons won over Nischitha Korrapati of Springfield 6-0. 6-0, while Kylee DelVecchio of East defeated Hill 6-4, 6-1. In the third-place match, Hill won over Korrapati 6-3, 7-6 (7-5 in the tiebreak), while Koons won the final over DelVecchio 6-1, 6-0.
In the doubles, the Byron sisters received a bye in the first round, then in the second round defeated Ava Neumeyer and Olivia Pereda of Belleville East 6-0, 6-1, then won the quarterfinal match over Lily and Phoebe Hayes of Quincy 6-3. 6-0. Wise and Woods received a bye in the first round, then in the second round Lydia Taul and Chloe Plough of the Redbirds 6-0, 6-0, then qualified for state with a quarterfinal win over Anika Reddy and Mary Dodd of the Blue Devils 6-2, 6-1.
In the semifinals, the Byron sisters won over Isabel Wells and Natalie Spihlman of O'Fallon 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, and Wise and Woods won their semifinal over Maya Hataway and Paisley Streuwing of the Lancers 6-4, 6-0. The third-place match saw Wells and Spihlman winning over Hataway and Streuwing 5-7. 7-6 (7-4 in the tiebreak), 6-1. while in the final, the Byrons defeated Wise and Woods 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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