CHARLESTON – Lockport’s doubles team of Jessica Miller and Haley Egelhof gave coach Denise Hadley a nice retirement present after they claimed fifth place in the IHSA badminton finals at Eastern Illinois University.
Egelhof and Miller won their three matches on Friday before suffering their lone loss, 21-23, 21-13, 21-14, to Naperville North’s Clara Duan and Claire Jiang in Saturday’s quarterfinals. The pair won their final three matches to become just Lockport’s fifth doubles team and their 13th and 14th players to medal at state during Hadley’s 32-year career.
In the third round, the Porters duo claimed a 21-18, 21-19 victory over New Trier’s Natalie Mardoian and Kaylin Steinberg. After their quarterfinal loss, Miller and Egelhof won a consolation match 21-16, 21-19 over Lincoln-Way West’s Grace and Julia Monti. They beat Hinsdale South’s Jacque Cameli and Caroline Lee 21-9, 21-17 in their finale.
Also for Lockport, Hannah Burke won her first two matches before losing to Neuqua Valley’s Lauren Ho and then she dropped her next match in three sets while Jenna Franzen claimed a consolation win before suffering her second loss. The Porters scored 7.0 points, which was good for ninth place.
Lincoln-Way West scored 6.0 points to tie Lake Park for 11th place. The Montis also won their first two matches before falling 21-12, 21-19 to Cameli and Lee. But they bounced back to win their next two matches before falling to the Porters doubles squad to come up one match shy of earning a medal for a top-six showing.
Cassie Ruettiger won her first two matches before dropping a 10-21, 22-20, 21-16 decision to Naperville Central’s Surya Nair, who claimed third place, and then she lost another three-set match. West’s other doubles team of Megan Smalter and Abriella Caravette won two consolation matches during a 2-2 Friday.
Lincoln-Way Central’s Kaitlyn Forsythe won her opener before dropping two consolation matches. And the Knights’ doubles team of Alyssa Boisvert and Lili Newtoff won two consolation matches and finished with a 2-2 showing.
Lincoln-Way East’s Jalyn Baumgartner and Romeoville’s Zoe Bermejo both won consolation matches before suffering their second defeat.
GIRLS WATER POLO
Lincoln-Way North 16, Lincoln-Way East 9: The Griffins (22-5-1) lost the championship game of the Lincoln-Way North Sectional after the Phoenix (27-5) scored the last three goals of the third quarter and the first three goals of the fourth period to turn an 8-7 lead into a 14-7 cushion. East, which trailed 8-5 at halftime, was denied its second state trip in three years while North is making its first state appearance and will play Naperville Central on Friday.
The Phoenix got seven goals from Cassidy DeGraff, five goals from Jess Larson and three goals from Julia Porco while the Griffins received three goals from Julie Esparza and two goals apiece from Teresa DiGiovanni, Nicole McCabe and Caroline Heathcock. East loses nine seniors and several others will attend Central while North only graduates four with the rest of its team moving to East, where they will be coached by Phoenix coach Kendra Will.
“I want my girls to understand that they played a heck of a game and fought to the end,” said Griffins coach Ryan Lodes, who will lead East’s boys team next year. “We had opportunities but North seemed to have an answer for most everything. All season they have been pushing and working toward this game. If I had to spend my last year coaching girls anywhere, it would be this year with this team. I’m so proud of them.”
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Romeoville 28-25, Oswego East 26-14: James Lefaiver (8 assists), Gio Dekire (4 kills) and Brad Gabrelcik (6 kills, 8 blocks) led the Spartans.
Other score: Lincoln-Way East 25-25, Lincoln-Way West 14-14.