|  The 2013 IHSA Girls Tennis State Finals are slated for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 24-26. The 42nd annual edition of the tournament will unfold on the courts of a number of high schools (see right sidebar) throughout the northwest Chicago suburbs on Thursday and Friday, before all championship bracket matches move to the campus of second-year state final host, Buffalo Grove High School in Buffalo Grove, on Saturday. Should inclement weather force matches to be moved indoors, indoor sites will be posted on the IHSA website.
A year ago, Lake Forest won its second IHSA Girls Tennis State Championship in the past three seasons, as the Scouts edged defending state champ Hinsdale Central 39-36 in the first team finish decided by three points or less since 2005. The Scouts should challenge for the team title again behind the return of the Zordani sisters, in senior Elizabeth and sophomore Christina. Both will play singles in 2013, one year after Elizabeth finished fifth and Christina teamed up with Maddie Lipp to win the doubles state title. Senior Catherine Orfanos and junior Margaux Miller enter as the team’s top doubles tandem and will try to pick up where Zordani and Lipp left off.
With five team state championships in the past seven years, Hinsdale Central is never far from the top of the team standings. The 2013 version of the team features a youth movement, as freshman Isabella Lorenzini occupies the team’s top singles slot. Red Devil duos have won four of the past seven doubles titles, so expectations will remain high for the fourth-seeded tandem of Danielle Burich and Erika Oku, despite both being freshman as well.
New Trier, who has won one team state title (2004) and recorded four second-place finishes since 2000, placed third in 2012. The 2013 Trevians are led by a pair of Top 16 seeded singles players in junior Taylor Tamblyn and senior Carol Finke, the latter of which reached the quarterfinals of the state tourney a year ago.
Glenbrook South could be poised to improve on 2012’s fourth-place fish behind the return of junior Annemarie Emme and senior Caroline Ryba, the No. 3 and No. 6 singles seeds, respectively, in 2013. Emme reached the semifinals of the consolation round last season, while Ryba lost in the fourth round to an eventual Top 4 finisher.
Lyons’ Alex Chatt enters the state tournament as the top seed in singles play after finishing third a year ago as a junior, a finish that propelled the Lions to a fifth-place finish in the team standings. Chatt will try to become the second player in school history to win a singles title and the first since Margie Lepsi accomplished the feat in 1991 and 1993.
Naperville Central sophomore Tiffany Chen has earned the No. 2 singles seed, one year after playing in the third-place match, where she fell to Chatt. Chicago Heights Marian senior Gaby Rosales (No. 5), Nazareth senior Lexie Petrovic (No. 8), Barrington sophomore Michelle Linden (No. 9) and Belleville West junior Kayleigh Thurwalker (No. 10) round out the Top 10 seeds in the singles field.
In doubles action, Stevenson’s tandem of junior Kendall Kirsch and senior Alexxis Kiven enter as the team to beat, as they earned the No. 1 seed. Kiven was one half of the state’s third-place doubles team a year ago, and with junior teammate Zoe Manion playing well in singles action, Stevenson could improve on last year’s tenth-place team finish.
Oak Park-River Forest’s doubles tandem of junior Taylor Arends and senior Tess Trinka are the No. 2 seed and will look to become the school’s first doubles champs since 1986. Third-seeded Evelyn Youel and Jillian Wallace also hope to end a long drought, as Crystal Lake Central last produced state champs in doubles in 1977.
Edwardsville’s junior tandem of Mallory Abert and Megan LaRose will also try to lay claim to the doubles throne, as they earned the No. 3 seed in the state tourney, one spot ahead of York senior Blaire Porter and junior Angela Avgerinos. Both schools were Top 10 finishers a year ago, as York placed sixth in the team standings, three spots ahead of the Tigers.
| TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
Buffalo Grove High School
OTHER COURTS
Barrington High School
Conant High School
Elk Grove High School
Fremd High School
Hersey High School
Hoffman Estates High School
Palatine High School
Prospect High School
Rolling Meadows High School
Schaumburg High School
Wheeling High School
SCHEDULE
Thursday, October 24
All matches - 8:00 am *
Friday, October 25
Consolation - 8:00 am *
Championship - 9:00 am *
Saturday, October 26
Consolation - 8:00 am
Championship - 9:00 am
* Suspended matches will be played at a site and time TBA by tournament managers
LIVE LEADERBOARD
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
TICKETS
There is no charge for admission at this event
BROADCAST
A highlight package from the tournament will be posted on www.IHSA.tv in the days that follow the tournament.
MEDIA
#IHSA on Twitter
Facebook Page
Photos
Video Highlights
HISTORY & RECORDS
2013 State Series
Record Book & Past Champions
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