The varsity girls tennis team from Richards High School won its second straight South Suburban Conference championship this week. Coach Connor Reynolds provides the tournament highlights:
This year's tournament was especially competitive with the addition of Lemont.
Kayla McSweeney (Sr.) closed out her High School career with a third consecutive SSC Championship at 1st Singles. She did not lose a game all tournament. She'll go down as one of most successful SSC tennis players in the conference's history. She finished the season 9-1, with her only loss in the Sectional Championship match.
Find out what's happening in Oak Lawnfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Meghan McSweeney (So.) earned the first Conference Championship of her career after finishing as runner up last season. Meghan finished the season 8-1, with her only loss coming to the eventual Sectional Champion.
Joanna Lupa/Trinity Dockery (Sr/Sr) battled all tournament, finishing in 4th place at 1st Doubles. Conference-wide, 1st Doubles was the most competitive slot of the whole tournament. Lupa/Dockery served as senior leaders, and anchored Richards Doubles all year. They finished the year undefeated in Conference play.
Find out what's happening in Oak Lawnfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Thea Wyzykowski/Julie Casey (Jr./So.) were the surprise of the tournament, earning a Conference Championship at Second Doubles. Two regular season losses had the pair on the outside looking in, as they did not earn a seed in the tournament. Undeterred, the pair defeated 4th-seeded Shepard in Round 1, upset top-seeded Reavis in the semis, and avenged a regular season loss to 3rd-seeded Oak Lawn in the Championship Match.
Natalia Stekala/Natalia Nykaza (Sr./Sr.) came into tournament play with a 5-0 record, and a number 1 seed. Unfortunately, the draw matched them up with eventual Conference Champion Reavis in the semifinals. Despite the setback, Team Natalia rallied to lock up 3rd place in a tough matchup with Shepard 3rd Doubles, who played much of the year at 2nd Doubles. Stekala/Nykaza finish their season with a 6-1 record.
Shoutouts to the bench players who contributed significantly to our team's success all year. The greatest casualty of this abbreviated and restricted season were the numerous players across all SSC teams who didn't get a chance to play exhibitions matches, or non-conference matches. Thanks to Nikola Folta (Sr.) Kaitlyn Krzyzaniak (Sr.) Haneen Al Adwan (Sr.) Janeen Abdelal (Jr.) and Faith Hill (Jr.) for all their hard work this year.