Schools
Hinsdale Central Tennis Has State Title in Sight
The Red Devils, second at state last year, return state doubles champs Marika Cusick and Caroline Lorenzini and fellow state qualifiers Kristy Hamilton, Jackie Altansarnai and Alexa Solovyev
GIRLS TENNIS PREVIEW
COACH: Robin Kramer (2nd season)
2010 RESULTS: 6-0 in West Suburban Conference Silver Division duals; won Silver Meet and overall title (80 points); won Lyons Township Sectional (35 points); second at state meet (36 points)
RETURNING 2010 STATE COMPETITORS: Juniors Marika Cusick and Caroline Lorenzini (state champions in doubles, 7-0 record at state); senior Kristy Hamilton (tied for 9th in doubles with graduated Julia Quintero, 5-2 record); senior Jackie Altansarnai (tied for 17th in singles, 4-2 record) and sophomore Alexa Solovyev (tied for 17th in singles, 3-2 record)
OTHER VARSITY RETURNEES: Senior Claire Foster; juniors Tiffany Chen, Anna Paulson and Shraya Soundararajan; and sophomore Katie Lee
VARSITY NEWCOMERS: Senior Ainsley Edstrom; junior Anais Carell; sophomores Rachel Ballantine, Grace Tapak and Alex Usher; and freshman Rugile Valiunate
OUTLOOK: The Red Devils had another great state tournament, including a state doubles championship from Cusick and Lorenzini, but their hopes for a program-best fifth consecutive state championship were thwarted by Lake Forest (40 points).
With five returnees from their state lineup, all of whom at least tied for 17th in singles or doubles, the Red Devils are in the hunt for the program's 13th state championship, more than anybody else in the state.
“I think they’re feeling very motivated. Even though they had a very successful season last year, I think they’re highly motivated to even top the finish they did last year,” Kramer said.
Cusick and Lorenzini capped an undefeated 24-0 season in 2010 by beating current Lake Forest sophomore Elizabeth Zordani and graduated Haleigh McPeek 6-2, 6-3 in the state doubles final. Hamilton and Quintero (25-5) tied for ninth in doubles and Solovyev (26-3) and Altansarni (20-7) each tied for 17th in their state debuts for the Red Devils.
Besides its state doubles runners-up, Lake Forest tied for seventh in singles and with one doubles team and tied for ninth with the other doubles team.
“Honestly, I think almost if you look at it on paper, we almost overachieved. We did really, really well,” Kramer said. “Everyone sort of knew Lake Forest was going to win. They should have won and did. Up until the last couple of matches, we were right there and really close to catching them. We did, I think, much better than expected. But at the end with myself and the team so competitive, they’ve come back with an even greater sense of purpose.”
Cusick and Lorenzini were Hinsdale Central’s first state doubles champions since Courtney Dolehide and Nida Hamilton, Kristy’s sister, also did so as underclassmen in 2007. Both players graduated in 2010.
Do Cusick and Lorenzini feel additional pressure this season?
“If they do, they’re definitely not showing it,” Kramer said. “That’s one thing I like about them. They’re a couple of the coolest customers in the state.”
Cusick and Kristy Hamilton were part of the 2009 state championship lineup, taking fourth as a doubles team after having a match point in the semifinals against the eventual state champions. A transfer to Hinsdale Central last season, Altansarnai also qualified for state with Plainfield North in singles in 2009 and 2008.
Fourth-year varsity player Hamilton and Foster are this year’s co-captains.
“[Kristy is] definitely one where she has that sense of urgency, sense of purpose,” Kramer said. “This is the fourth year she’s been a part of this. Now she’s a senior and team captain. She really feels like this is her team.”
Once again, the lineup with be an experiment, especially in doubles. After Hamilton played doubles last year with Quintero, Hamilton has played some doubles matches with Altansarnai early this season.
“I was the mad scientist of lineups last year. I probably played the most lineups in the state because I was unsettled what lineup would score the most amount of points [at state],” Kramer said.
“Marika is really comfortable playing singles or doubles. Caroline is our anchor. No matter what, she’s going to be part of that No. 1 doubles team. Jackie came to me early in the season last year and started mentioning doubles. [Last year] we needed her to anchor one of our two singles spots. This year we have much more singles flexibility.”
Soundararajan, Chen and Lee also return from last year’s regular-season varsity lineup that captured the program's ninth consecutive overall Silver title and 17th out of the past 18 years with 80 out of a possible 84 matches won.
Besides Silver Meet championships from Cusick and Lorenzini (No. 1 doubles), Hamilton and Quintero (No. 2 doubles) and Solovyev (No. 2 singles), also winning were Chen with graduated Jen Bush (No. 3 doubles), Soundararajan (No. 3 singles) and Lee with graduated Andrea Wroble (No. 4 doubles). Altansarnai was third at No. 1 singles.
Additional help could come from Tapak, Ballantine, Usher and Valiunate. Tapak, who didn’t play last season, is the younger sister of 1997 fourth-place state doubles finisher Grace Tapak. Ballantine is the daughter of former Hinsdale Central boys doubles state champion Bro Ballanatine. Usher and Ballantine were last year’s No. 1 doubles team for the junior varsity.
Lake Forest returns just two players from its state lineup—Zordani and junior Taya Zoubareva, who tied for seventh in doubles. Junior Maddie Lipp, last year’s No. 1 singles seed for state who tied for seventh, opted to compete in USTA national tournaments.
New Trier, third at state last year (33 points), returns junior Emily Barretta (fourth in doubles), senior Rebecca Ritchie (sixth in doubles) and sophomore Carol Finke (tied for 13th in singles). Two more underclassmen in the Trevians’ state lineup did not return.
Hinsdale Central is 7-0 in duals this season. On Tuesday, the Red Devils opened Silver action with a 6-1 victory at Lyons Township.
In the season opener, Hinsdale Central won 8-1 Aug. 24 over Benet, fifth at state last year. At the Hinsdale South Cookout Quad Aug. 27, the Red Devils swept York, Neuqua Valley and the host Hornets 5-0. The Red Devils won their first two duals at Saturday’s Downers Grove South Invite before the rest of the meet was rained out.
QUOTABLE: “Lake Forest, New Trier and us are very, very strong teams. Honestly, it’s definitely a three-horse race. If any of those teams won [state], it would not be a shock,” Kramer said. “It’s sort of like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. I’ll make my team be Michael Jordan because he doesn’t lose in the fourth quarter.”
