Women's tennis: Once opponents, Ordean and Shank now teammates for Skyhawks

DIXON – Last season, Sterling’s duo of Allie Shank and Grace Steinke won the Belvidere North Sectional doubles title. One of the teams they dispatched on the way to that crown was Newman’s Chantel Ordean and Anne Vits.

Little did either Shank or Ordean realize that the semifinal showdown featured their future doubles partner at Sauk Valley Community College.

After both advanced to the IHSA state meet as seniors in 2014 – albeit playing for different high schools – they will be teammates for the next 2 years.

“I had no idea we would be playing together,” Shank said. “We practiced a lot over the summer, and Coach [Sara] Kipping put us together, and I’m happy about it. We play well together.

“Plus, we’re both first-year students here, so it will be easier to go into next year with the same partner.”

That’s one of the reasons why Kipping put them together. The longtime Skyhawks coach doesn’t have any players on this year’s team who played singles in high school, so she wants to make sure her doubles teams fit together well.

In fact, Sauk lost five of its top six players from last season; the only player on this year’s squad with any singles experience is sophomore Jessica VanOosten – and only because she played No. 5 for the Skyhawks last year, after coming out of Dixon as a doubles player.

“She’s playing No. 2 for me this year,” Kipping said, “and I have no singles players from high school, not one. These girls, they’re honest; they really don’t like to play singles. But they’re forced into it, and they’re doing a good job.”

VanOosten will team with Sterling’s Sarah Trobaugh at No. 2 doubles; both played for the Skyhawks last season. Sterling’s Sidney Lippens and Macee Sullivan will be at No. 3 doubles, after the two paired up last year for the Golden Warriors.

But a former Warrior and former Comet have been thrust into that top doubles spot, though with both preferring doubles to singles, the transition has been fairly smooth – especially since they complement each other so well.

“Allie’s good at doing everything that I can’t do,” said Ordean, whose solid backhand goes well with Shank’s strong forehand. “She moves up to the net a lot, and puts the ball away a lot of the time. She can get to all the balls that I wouldn’t have a chance getting to, and it’s kind of easy to see what her strengths are, and fit my game with hers.”

Ordean is used to learning the game of a new doubles partner; she was paired with different players throughout high school. Shank, on the other hand, played with Steinke for 4 years at Sterling, and is adjusting to a new partner for the first time in her life.

But the two have become close enough already that Shank has no problem offering that she and Steinke beat Ordean and Vits in last year’s Belvidere Sectional semifinals (6-3, 6-2), and enjoys some good-natured bragging rights.

“It’s just a fun thing, though,” Shank said with a smile. “It’s just really weird that we played against each other all through high school, and now we’re partners.”

“I played her and Grace a lot during high school, though I usually had a different partner,” Ordean added. “So I knew who she was, and how she played, and we’re definitely on the same page.”

Skyhawks by the numbers

• 6 players from Sterling HS, 2 from Newman HS, 1 from Dixon HS

• 4 sophomores, 5 freshmen

• 1 returning player from last season’s top 6

• 0 players on Sauk’s roster played singles in high school

Sauk Valley Skyhawks

Coach: Sara Kipping (22nd season)

Roster

Name  Year  School

Jessica Gallegos  Fr.  Sterling

Sidney Lippens  Fr.  Sterling

Chantel Ordean  Fr.  Newman

Lupita Serrano  So.  Newman

Allie Shank  Fr.  Sterling

Macee Sullivan  Fr.  Sterling

Sarah Trobaugh  So.  Sterling

Tessa Trujillo  So.  Sterling

Jessica VanOosten  So.  Dixon