Morris’ Lines, Kenney, Zarbock qualify for state tennis tournament

MORRIS — Last fall, the IHSA girls tennis state tournament was called off due to COVID-19 restrictions.

This year, the event is back on, and it will see three players from Morris Community High School take part in the Class 1A competition. Grace Lines, a senior, will be playing as a singles player, and the doubles team of senior Liz Kenney and junior Gretchen Zarbock also qualified. The tournament begins Thursday morning at various high schools in the Barrington area.

Kenney and Zarbock will be making their first state appearance, and they will enter riding a 17-match winning streak. Their last loss was on Sept. 11.

In the Class 1A Ottawa Sectional, Kenney and Zarbock found themselves down 3-0 in the second set against LaSalle-Peru’s Catherine Engels and Ava Lannen. The Morris duo rallied to win six of the next seven games to capture the 6-4 second-set victory along with the first place medal. They will take on Audrey Liftin and Jillian Paulson of Wheaton Academy at Palatine High School on Thursday morning in the opening round of the state tournament.

Coming from behind isn’t a new thing for the tandem, and it’s something they take pride in.

“We are able to stay together,” Zarbock said. “If we have a bad stretch, we try to get over it and we are able to dig ourselves out. We communicate pretty well and we try to not beat ourselves.”

The pair is able to use their individual strengths to form a formidable team.

“I am better at serving and volleying, and Gretchen is better at the net,” Kenney said. “We complement each other pretty well.”

Both players point to the same match as the turning point in the season.

“It was probably when we played Plainfield North in the Lemont Invitational,” Zarbock said.

“They were a good team,” Kenney added. “We were down for a while, but we ended up winning that match and took first in that invitational. That gave us a confidence boost, knowing that we could play with a good team like that.”

The pair also won the doubles championship at the Interstate Eight Conference Tournament before claiming the sectional title last weekend.

Now, it’s time for state.

“I have never gone to state before,” Kenney said. “It’s going to be fun to have the opportunity.”

“We just want to play our best tennis and we will see what happens,” Zarbock said.

Lines, a senior who had been to the state tournament as part of a doubles team with Kyla Kjellesvik in 2019, was playing singles for the first time in her high school career this year. She finished fourth at the sectional and will play Maya Jha of Chicago Payton at Vernon Hills High School in the first round.

“It’s definitely different playing singles,” said Lines, who missed two weeks during the season with a foot injury but is now 100%. “I liked learning how to play singles, and I am glad I accomplished my goal of going to state.

“Coming into high school, I didn’t know if I was going to play singles or doubles, and I got paired with Kyla for my first three years. That was great, and it’s a big change going to singles. The biggest is that it’s all on you. You don’t have a partner to talk to, and you have to be really focused.”

Lines said her biggest asset is that she doesn’t usually beat herself.

“My consistency and mental toughness are probably my strengths,” she said. “If I am down, I am able to come back and fight through it.

“I have nothing to lose. We didn’t win a match when Kyla and I went my sophomore year, so I would really like to win a match or two this year. I am just going to try to play my best. I will be happy if I feel I played my best.”

Coal City’s Molly Stiles and Abby Stiles also qualified for the tournament as a doubles team. They will take on Elisa Pecora and Isabel Furst of Rockford Boylan at Buffalo Grove High School in the first round.