Girls tennis: Kaneland stumbles in nonconference defeat

MAPLE PARK – The Kaneland drumline began practicing on Peterson Field around 6 p.m. Monday, making the first of its organized sounds as the nearby girls tennis dual between the Knights and visiting Rosary played on.

The musical accompaniment inadvertently augmented the drama on and off the court. Yes, there were both kinds in the Royals’ 6-1 nonconference victory.

Kaneland earned its lone win at No. 1 doubles, as juniors Lauren Karolewicz and Marley Schultz recovered from a late slump to defeat Rosary’s Lizzie Graft and Angela Dassis, 6-4, 0-6 (13-11). The 6-foot-1 Karolewicz leapt for an overhead smash of a shot at the net for the final point of the tiebreaker.

“It’s really nice,” Karolewicz said. “This is the only reason why I like being tall.”

A few moments later, Rosary senior Rebecca Bens – who teamed with her twin sister, Natalie, to roll 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles – received a choreographed invitation to West Aurora’s homecoming.

Her friend presented a poster he littered with tennis puns, including “love.” The real magic words, though, were “set a date.”

With just a handful of matches still in play, the rest of the Royals gazed back toward Rebecca Bens in unison, offering their congratulations.

“I love our team,” said Rebecca Bens, of St. Charles. “We’re very close.”

No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles proved to be the lone matches to share the latter trait. Karolewicz and Schultz trailed, 9-3, in the first-to-10 tiebreak, to boot.

“I guess we just found the drive in ourselves,” Schultz said. “When we were down … we had just been, like, ‘(Let’s go).’ Then we started hitting shots, and the ones to the net were really going in. And then we were like, ‘OK, we can really do this.’”

Both players beamed about the accomplishment of winning a tiebreak. Knights coach Tim Larsen promoted the pair to No. 1 doubles after it held that slot for the junior varsity in 2014.

At second singles, Rosary’s Grace Goheen topped Kaneland’s Haley Plach, 6-1, 0-6 (10-5) in the only singles match that required a tiebreak.

Bella Duarte yielded just two games in her win in the No. 3 slot, while top Royals singles player Maria Goheen, a freshman and Grace Goheen’s cousin, defeated the Knights’ Brittany Zablocki, 6-0, 6-0.

“I tried to attack my serve and get the angles, and then when there were open shots, I tried to get the angles and push her back,” Maria Goheen said. “Try to move in.”

Rosary and Kaneland both competed at Saturday’s Waubonsie Valley Invitational, but meetings between the schools in any bracket were scarce.

The programs are well-versed, anyway, considering the history Larsen and longtime Royals counterpart John Tsang share at their respective schools.

“It’s always good-spirited play,” Tsang said, “so we really enjoy the sportsmanship.”

For the homestretch, anyway, those athletes whose matches still were being contested early Monday evening appreciated some background noise, too.

If only all overhead volleys could come equipped with real-life booming sounds.