PR's Murphy, Huerth win state doubles title

Prairie Ridge's Allison Murphy (left) and Carolyn Huerth takes a break during their IHSA Girls Tennis State quarterfinal. The duo is the area's second doubles team to win a state title. (Dave Shields / For the Northwest Herald)

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HANOVER PARK – Playing doubles together was a plan hatched their freshman year, but Prairie Ridge’s Allison Murphy and Carolyn Huerth never imagined that it would produce a girls tennis state championship.

Murphy and Huerth defeated Decatur St. Teresa’s Tracy and Amy Kuhle, 6-3, 6-4, in the championship match to win the IHSA State Tournament in doubles Saturday.

“I think we were both pretty tired,” Huerth said after a marathon day of tennis that began at 9 a.m. in Arlington Heights and ended about 6:30 p.m., in Hanover Park. “I just tried to forget and put everything into it.”
 With Murphy sidelined last year with a wrist injury, the doubles plan had to wait until this year, both girls’ junior season. After a solid one-loss season that also produced Fox Valley Conference and Cary-Grove Sectional titles, Murphy and Huerth were seeded 3-4 heading into the state tournament.  

The Kuhles, who are twin sisters, were a true Cinderella, advancing to the finals as an unseeded team. On Friday and Saturday they knocked off three seeded teams from Hinsdale Central, New Trier and Lake Forest to make the finals.

Also on Saturday, the Wolves duo defeated Ashton Nisbet and Heather Nisbet of Buffalo Grove, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals and Hinsdale Central’s Marika Cusick and Kristy Hamilton, 6-7 (7-2), 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-5) in the semifinals.

The Nisbets also are twin sisters and the reigning state doubles champions in girls badminton.

The semifinal match against Hinsdale Central had more of a finals feel to it and attracted a large crowd as the match progressed at the Centre Court Athletic Club in Hanover Park. The three-and-a-half hour marathon was as much a roller coaster ride as a tennis match with all three sets all decided by tiebreaker.

Prairie Ridge coach Jessica Fetzner said that playing well in the finals after a grueling match in the semis spoke to the tenacity and strength of her team.

“They wanted it. They had a goal and they achieved it,” Fetzner said. “To be able to come out and play the way they did is a testament to how strong they are.”

Huerth, who has been ill the entire tournament, said that in the finals they tried to focus on their play and not how they were feeling.

In the first set against Hinsdale Central, Murphy and Huerth went up, 6-5, but were unable to capitalize on two set points. Cusick and Hamilton had their chances in the second set tiebreaker but failed on three match point opportunities.

“We just knew we were better and knew we could win, Huerth said.

The third set saw Prairie Ridge go up 5-2, only to lose four straight games. They broke Hamilton’s serve at 5-6 to force the third tiebreaker.

“We just couldn’t put it away,” Murphy said. “That was the toughest match.”

Hamilton and Cusick seemed to get to every ball the Wolves hit either at the net, from the baseline, or on serves. What looked to be sure winners kept coming back at Murphy and Huerth time and time again.

“We could not put a ball away,” Huerth said. “They got to everything.”

In the singles championship match, freshman Jerricka Boone from Morgan Park Academy in Chicago, defeated Deerfield’s Julia Fellerhoff, 6-2, 6-3.

Hinsdale Central won the team competition with 32 points followed by Deerfield (28), Lake Forest (25), Barrington (22) and New Trier (20).

Murphy and Huerth earned 14 points to put Prairie Ridge in a tie for eighth place. Murphy and Huerth became the second doubles team in area history to win a state title. The first was Crystal Lake Community’s Sandy Dunning and Katie Waters, who won in 1977. Fetzner’s mother, Judy Elder, coached that Crystal Lake team.