Heading into her second season as Lincoln-Way North’s badminton coach, Alison Jozsa was encouraged.
Some key returning players, some new players who chose not to come out for the team last season…yes, this could be a good mix.
Days away from the postseason, though, that outlook has gone from encouraged to…
“Excitement. We’re so excited about the team,” Jozsa said.
There’s good reason for that excitement for the Phoenix. Wrapping up the regular season, Lincoln-Way North defeated Andrew Thursday 9-6 in a dual, North’s first victory against one of the area’s best and most consistent teams.
“That win means a lot heading into conference,” Jozsa said. “We’d never beat Andrew so it was wonderful to see, and we’re definitely improving.”
The junior duo of Ashley Pop and Allison Gerk have the No. 1 doubles spot on lockdown and are playing well, according to Jozsa. During their sophomore seasons, Pop and Gerk did not come out for the team.
Jozsa also has been impressed with Heather Sedivy (No. 1 singles), Amanda Rockrohr (No. 2 singles), and the No. 2 doubles pair of Christina Conrad and Kelley Heynen.
Lincoln-Way North will compete at the SouthWest Suburban Red meet Wednesday and Thursday at Lincoln-Way West.
“We’re geared up and ready to go,” Jozsa said. “My goal is state, and we’re a step closer.”
Andrew gymnastics
Andrew gymnastics coach Don Raymond isn’t looking for anything crazy out of his team, just two things he hopes happens each and every season.
One, stay healthy, and two, watch those scores progressively get better with each passing meet.
Well, for the Thunderbolts, check and check.
“All season long, we’ve been plodding along and our scores are higher one meet and higher the next,” Raymond said. “Our last meet had our season-high score. We’re heading in the right direction, and we’re pretty healthy with just a few aches and pains.”
Raymond’s squad, a co-op team with athletes from both Andrew and Sandburg, will have a chance to put those rising scores to the test starting this week. Andrew will host the SouthWest Suburban meet this Thursday.
Also competing will be Homewood-Flossmoor and individual competitors from the Lincoln-Way district as a team was not fielded this season.
Andrew’s Derek Kwiatkowski and Omar Ashour and Sandburg’s Jacob Giron and Ethan Doe are all capable of putting some solid scores together for a Thunderbolts squad chasing its first ever conference title.
“We’ve been second many times but never won first,” Raymond said. “We’re in a good place right now and hopefully we’re peaking at the right time as we head into conference and sectionals, the really do-or-die time.”
Andrew water polo
Andrew went from 10-16 in 2013 to 26-4 last season, but there were questions about how the T-bolts would follow up on that breakout season after losing a terrific senior class.
This year, Andrew has proven it’s not going anywhere.
The T-bolts are 19-4, running away with first place in the SouthWest Suburban Red and last week were named the top seed in the Lincoln-Way North Sectional.
“We had some kids that did a really good job on the JV team last year, and they were able to step up to the varsity level and come up big for us,” Andrew coach Kris Kowal said.
Mike Brennan, Colin Hovorka, Brett Hofer, Jake Grimes and Eric Villasenor are among the newcomers to step up and help the four players who returned from last year’s team: Matthew Bobber, Dan Cavato, Broderic Garren and Kyle Lynch.
Lynch and Hofer had big late goals in an 11-9 April 16 win over Sandburg that likely sealed the top seed in the sectional.
The T-bolts lost to Sandburg in the sectional finals last year.
“Andrew’s never gotten to state and the kids really want it,” Kowal said. “It’s definitely on everyone’s mind. We want to use these last couple weeks of the regular season to clean some things up, especially offensively. You never know what’s going to happen in the sectional, but we’re excited.”
Millar is a freelance reporter. Freelance reporter Steve Millar also contributed.
