NewsTribune sports roundup for Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023

The La Salle-Peru girls tennis team played its first matches on the newly renovated courts at the L-P Sports Complex on Saturday.

The Cavaliers defeated Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 4-1 and East Aurora 3-0 and lost to Metamora 5-0.

“Getting to host a quad on these new courts was a great way to kick off the season for us,” L-P coach Aaron Guenther said. “The eight that are finished are beautiful and the four that will be finished soon will just be the icing on the cake. The tennis facilities at L-P are unmatched for our area and even expanding beyond. You won’t see 12 functioning courts anywhere near here until you get to the suburbs.

“Being able to have these facilities available will 100% help the team improve as more space equals more balls hit by the student-athletes. Practice makes perfect and we’ll have every opportunity to maximize practices now. We’ll also get to play more people at matches because of the four additional courts, so anyone who goes out for the team is going to get a match every single night. Nobody likes practicing and never getting to see playing time, so tennis is going to be a unique opportunity in that everyone will get a chance to show off their hard work in a match.”

L-P swept GCMS in doubles as Kaylie Reese and Elena Leone won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1, Kylee Halm and Cali Mickley were 6-0, 6-0 winners at No. 2 and Sophia Woods and Izzy Pecchio claimed a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 3.

Against East Aurora, Reese won 7-6, 3-6, 10-5 at No. 1 singles, while, Leone won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.

Halm and Mickley were 6-0, 6-0 winners in doubles.

BOYS GOLF

At Deer Grove: Bureau Valley won the small school championship at the Rock Falls Rocket Invitational on Saturday at Deer Valley Golf Club.

The Storm carded a 360, edging runner-up Newman (362) by two strokes.

“It was an awesome day,” BV coach Jack Gustafson said. “The boys showed a lot if heart today. It was very tough conditions today with the wind making club selections very difficult at times. They all had some issues out there today but kept their focus for the most part.”

Wyatt Novotny led the the Storm with an 80, third in the division. Also scoring for the Storm were Atticus Middleton (89), Landen Birdsley (95) and Colin Stabler (96).

Forreston’s Kaden Brown was medalist at 79 with St. Bede’s Luke Tunnell fourth and Hall’s Landen Plym fifth, both with 89s.

St. Bede (375) finished third as a team with contributions from Ryan Slingsby (92), Zach Husser (94) and Abraham Wiesbrock (100).

Jayden Fulkerson led fourth-place Princeton (377) at 92 with Kaiden Coomer and Jackson Mason adding 94s, Tyson Phillips a 97 and Luke Smith a 100.

Hall (383) was fifth with Noah Plym scoring a 92, Johnni Escatel a 99 and Jacob Diaz a 103.

Dixon (338) won the large-school division behind medalist Alex Harrison (78). The host Rockets (351) were second.

At Sandwich: the Amboy co-op placed 12 at Sandwich’s Roger Keller Classic on Saturday at Edgebrook Golf Course.

The Clippers carded a 361 in the event in which teammates competed in pairs and played a variety of formats. Sycamore won with a 237.

The Clippers’ top twosome was Carson Barlow and Logan O’Brien with a 99.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

At Rockford: IVCC won a pair of matches at the Opening Weekend Tournament on Saturday to improve to 4-0 on the season.

The Eagles defeated North Iowa Area 25-19, 26-24, 15-25, 25-22 and Oakton 25-18, 25-16, 25-17.

Against North Iowa, Olivia Shetterly had eight kills, four aces and three blocks, while Neely Hougas had 19 digs.

Katie Bates had 24 assists and five digs against Oakton, while Ella Sibert had six kills.