As far as Hersey was concerned, Saturday’s 16-team Evanston Badminton Invitational was as easy A-B-C–and D.
The Huskies swept both the singles and doubles “A” titles in the unique A-B-C-D format and proved Hersey will be a major player when the state tournament starts in two weeks.
“I think Hersey showed everybody that they will be as good as anyone for the state competition,” said Willowbrook coach Al Loew.
And that was coming from the winning coach. The Warriors won the less-important team title, scoring 75 points to Hersey’s 67. Evanston was third with 55.
But it was the Huskies who wowed the crowd.
While Hersey’s Selma Kurtagic was busy wearing down Kelly Quinn of Hinsdale Central for the “A” singles title 11-4, 12-10, the Huskies’ No. 1 doubles team of Vanessa Pavlik and Linh Truong was beating Evanston’s Carrie Abrams and Nicole Nechtow 18-14, 15-8 in the “A” championship for the second straight week. Pavlik and Truong ran their record to 34-0.
The lefty-righty combination did a number on the field last week at New Trier’s Feather Fest, beating the Trevians’ No. 1 team of Rupal Malani and Kitty Kamron in the finals and downing Abrams and Nechtow. This week, Pavlik and Truong just reversed the order–and enjoyed the challenge.
“Psychologicaly, it gets a little harder every week when you’re undefeated,” said Hersey coach Jeanine Konkolewski.
Kurtagic, who played tennis for Konkolewski’s state runner-up tennis team, used her athleticism and her deft-touch game to wear Quinn down. She mixed in her drop shots with her slams masterfully, and she played tough when it counted.
She was trailing 9-7 in the second game but came back to tie it. And then she watched as Quinn missed the line by inches with three straight drives to win.
Konkolewski had to leave for the hospital after the second match to take Maki Uihara, part of her No. 3 doubles team, to the emergency room after Uihara was hit in the eye with a birdie.
Uihara, who was coming in for a drive, had her contact shattered, scratching her cornea. She’ll be fine, according to Konkolewski.
“They need to think about goggles,” she said.
On the strength of the “B” and “D” doubles title and “B” and “C” singles championship (Kristy Brunetti and Georgia Giampoali), Willowbrook was able to win the team title. The Warriors got an unexpected lift from sophomore Lynette Steinhauser, who won her first two matches and made it into the “A” bracket, scoring four points for Willowbrook.
