Departures open doors

Jacobs' Kassy Bernardo returns the ball during a doubles match at last year's IHSA state tournament in Rolling Meadows. Bernardo returns for the Golden Eagles this season. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com)

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With the graduation of three of the area’s all-time top players, this year’s girls tennis season should see more parity, particularly at the top of the lineups.

Prairie Ridge’s Carolyn Huerth and Allison Murphy, who won the state doubles championship in 2009 and advanced to the quarterfinals last year, and Crystal Lake Central’s Nelle Youel, who made it to the singles quarterfinals at state last season, were undefeated against area players the past two seasons. With them departed, No. 1 singles and especially No. 1 doubles are a more level playing field.

Although they were opponents, Crystal Lake South’s Marisa Thome said she looked up to Youel and tried to emulate her play.

“She was like a role model,” Thome said. “It will be hard to fill her shoes.”

The area’s top singles players will still have to contend with Grayslake North’s Kelly Poggensee-Wei in the Fox Valley Conference. With a quarterfinal appearance last year, Poggensee-Wei has her sights set on a state singles championship, Knights coach Jill Tomasello said.

Five other storylines to watch this season:

FVC welcomes Hampshire: The FVC expands to 14 teams this year with the addition of Hampshire. Second-year coach Aaron Holmer said he expects to be able to compete against some of the conference schools but recognizes how tough the top schools are.

Kendall Walker leads the Whip-Purs after qualifying for state in doubles last year. She will be joined on the team by 33 other players, many of whom never have played before.

“We’re already seeing a growth spurt in the size of our team,” Holmer said.

Coming from the Big Northern Conference, which did not have a conference championship, Holmer said the biggest benefit to coming to the FVC Fox is the built-in schedule.

“Last year being in the Big Northern, it was a hodgepodge schedule,” Holmer said. “Now it will be nice to have a more consistent schedule.”

Division play 101: With the addition of Hampshire, the FVC moves to divisional play in girls tennis. Regular-season championships will be awarded in the Fox and Valley divisions based on dual team points against divisional competition. In addition, an overall champion will be decided at the FVC Meet, where regular-season points do not carry over.

Teams will play all FVC teams, even though crossover meets will not count toward conference standings. Crystal Lake South coach Don Nead said the format didn’t make much sense to him.

“If we’re going to have to play all schools, why don’t they all count?” Nead said.

The format also eliminates most of the open dates on the schedule and the possibility for the better teams to face stiffer competition. Dundee-Crown coach Janet Malecek said the format was implemented by the principals and athletic directors and didn’t know of any coaches who liked it.

Moving to No. 1: Crystal Lake Central’s Jenna Wallace will move to No. 1 singles this year after playing at No. 2 the past two seasons. Also moving up will be sophomores Jillian Wallace and Evelyn Youel, who played No. 2 doubles last year.

Jenna Wallace said she is looking forward to the challenge of playing tougher opponents.

“That’s something I’m really looking forward to, playing harder hitters,” she said. “There’s a huge margin in player ability at [No.] one [singles].”

Knocking off Crystal Lake: The boys season saw a huge upset with Grayslake Central edging South for the conference title. The consensus favorites in the girls season are South and Crystal Lake Central, but Nead said don’t count out Jacobs.

The Golden Eagles finished second last season and return many of their top players, but Eagles coach Jon Betts still feels like an underdog.

“Crystal Lake South and Crystal Lake Central are clear favorites heading into the season,” Betts said. “They each have excellent talent returning and present us with challenging matchups.”

C-G Sectional parity: With Poggensee-Wei at a different sectional, winning the Cary-Grove Sectional is more open after Nelle Youel won it the past three years. Thome and Jenna Wallace lead the pack of contenders, which also includes Prairie Ridge’s Hannah Gummerson and the Trojans’ Amanda Dorsey.

Thome, a junior who has played No. 1 singles the past two seasons, is looking forward to being joined on varsity by her classmates.

“It’s going to be really fun,” Thome said. “All my friends are moved up from frosh/soph.”