Bradley-Bourbonnais’ girls tennis team has not relinquished the All-City since at least the turn of the century, and with Wednesday’s win in the annual clash with Kankakee and Bishop McNamara, the crown will stay with the Boilermakers for yet another year.

The host Boilermakers finished with 15 points while Kankakee placed second with 10 points. After finishing scoreless a year ago, Bishop McNamara picked up five points in third place.

Bradley-Bourbonnais senior Mary Claire Dwyer defended her All-City singles title, beating Bishop McNamara’s Emily Cox 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals and Kankakee’s Samantha Medina 6-2, 6-4 in the finals.

“It’s a good way to finish out our season I feel like, before conference and sectionals,” Dwyer said. “...It feels really good. It’s just really validating and another good way to finish out my senior season.”

The Boilermakers also had their top doubles pairing of Haley O’Malley and Olivia Nuesse place second while the pairing of Madyson Bittles and Lillian Myrick won their third-place match over Bishop McNamara’s Rozalie Stipp and Stella Kruse.

While head coach Tyler Bontrager said it was nice to take home the All-City title once again, the highlight of the day was the fact that all three teams put on strong showings.

“It’s great to see all three schools make it to the end of the day,” he said. “Of course we’re excited we retained the title, and that’s always the goal. But more than anything I’m happy to see all three programs competing at a high level. It’s great.”

For Kankakee, the No. 1 doubles pairing of Mishelle Gaytan and Charisma Hill picked up the doubles title with a 6-2, 6-1 win over O’Malley and Nuesse. Gaytan and partner Ava Nelson finished second at All-City last season while Hill was runner up in singles play to Dwyer.

Hill and Gaytan, both seniors, are a relatively new pairing, having made the switch just a few weeks ago. But Gaytan said that it has been going smoothly so far and is happy they could pick up the win on Wednesday.

“I’m just really glad that we won, because this is our last year,” Gaytan said. “It’s really nice just to win finally at All-City. Even through we had some difficulties in both games, I think we handled it pretty well.”

Hill added that the transition from primarily singles play to being on the team’s top doubles pairing has been a bit easier due to Gaytan’s doubles experience.

“Playing doubles wasn’t like brand new to me, but I feel like having a doubles partner that’s really consistent really helped us win,” Hill said. “Mishelle has been a really great partner, and I’m really glad we won this year.”

For Bishop McNamara, a returning group of sophomores has helped the program continue its growth after last season’s team was mostly freshmen that were brand new to the sport.

There are also a few key newcomers, including the sophomore Cox who finished third in singles.

She picked up a lengthy win in her first-round match against Kankakee’s Nelson, eventually winning in a tiebreaker. After falling the Dwyer in the semifinals, Cox then had her third-place match go to a tiebreaker as well.

She managed to come out on top in what would end up being the final match of the evening, capping a long day of tennis toward the end of her first season playing the sport.

“I feel like I definitely battled through the first sets in both games I won” she said. “I adjusted, listening to my coach’s advice and took it, did the small things and ended up winning.”

Head coach Austin Earsley said that, although the results have not always been there this season, he loves the way his young team has been approaching the game.

“This is one of the best groups that I’ve had,” he said. “We’ve lost every match this season, and I still couldn’t be happier. I see the strides that they make, how much they love the game and how much they want to work because they love the game.”