CLC’s Youel cruises at No. 1 singles

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CRYSTAL LAKE – The back of her sweatshirt read “Mrs. Federer,” but the way Crystal Lake Central’s Nelle Youel played Saturday, Roger Federer might need a shirt with “Mr. Youel” on the back.

Youel won the No. 1 singles bracket at the Crystal Lake Central Invitational, and didn’t surrender a game until her final set, when she defeated Michelle Dutt of Gurnee Warren in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1. For Youel, the key to victory was letting off.

“I knew I had to keep working on my ground strokes; really keep the ball in and let them make the mistake in the end,” Youel said. “The last girl I played was really consistent, so I was not going to wail on the ball every single time I hit it.”

␟Prairie Ridge (34 points) won the tournament by nine points over Warren. Central (19) finished third.

Prairie Ridge was led by Carolyn Huerth and Allison Murphy, who won the No. 1 doubles title. The Wolves won three of four doubles championships, taking the No. 2 title with Carrie Keahl and Haley Ljunggren and the No. 3 title with Michelle Sievers and Emily Bruksch.

The Wolves’ Hannah Gummerson finished third in No. 1 singles.

Prairie Ridge coach Jessica Fetzner credited her team’s results to hard work.

“We have a very strong junior class, and a lot of the juniors have made it on varsity this year,” Fetzner said. “They have been working incredibly hard to improve their game and get better at the sport of tennis.”

Jacobs’ Marcilyn Rowan and Lauren Steinkamp were defeated by Keahl and Ljunggren in the championship match, 6-2, 6-1, to take second in No. 2 doubles.

For area teams, it was a chance to get competition in a tournament setting as the season winds down; the FVC tournament is in two weeks and the state tournament starts the week after.

“The great part of the tournament is that it gives us competition in our sectional and outside our sectional, so we get to see people that we’re not used to seeing that challenge us and we get to see people that will potentially improve our seed within our sectional,” Central coach Molly Czes-lawski said.