We’re at Redhawks’ home turf for girls tennis as Naperville Central pulls ahead on this September 9th match, hosting rival school Naperville North. The Huskies are coming off two non-conference matchups and face Naperville Central with a victory under their belt from the last time the two teams met. Couple that with both teams finishing in top spots last season, and you have each school looking to shut down their rival in this DVC matchup. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Dueling doubles on the first and second courts
Starting with the doubles on court 2, Redhawks serve and enter a rally against Huskies, and that’s Claire Cameron with an excellent return to a strong swing down the line for her and her partner, Grace Kistler.
Same doubles court, Kistler serving again for Naperville Central but this time it’s Naperville North’s Makaelynn Woller-Li taking advantage of a great reach to send the ball back, and catch the Redhawks off guard. That’s a point for Woller-Li and her partner Varsha Pamulapati. Both teams fought through long rallies and went to a tiebreaker third set, with Naperville North claiming victory.
Bouncing over to the second doubles court, Amy Yang is playing for Central and delivers a powerhouse backhand to the other side of the net, for her and her partner Chaeli Ha. This would lead Naperville Central to a victory on the second doubles court in two sets.
Naperville North wins at the top singles and doubles courts
Now let’s jump into singles play. Here’s the second court where Naperville Central’s Rina Xu is serving and Naperville North’s Mihika Gokhale sends it back. The rally begins, and the ball goes from backline to backline until Gokhale sends it deep corner for the point.
Continuing on the second singles court, Xu is fired up as she serves it to Gokhale and another fight for control begins. This time it’s Xu with a deep corner shot, and then on the return, it’s followed up with a fierce topspin for a Central point. Xu and Gokhale would battle it out in long rallies, but Gokhale pulls ahead for a Naperville North win on the second singles court.
We’re finishing here on the top singles court, and for bold competition between Redhawk Kaavya Parameswar and Huskie Anda Elezi. The battle on court one is a test of endurance as Parameswar and Elezi fight it out through long rallies. After almost a minute and a half of play, Parameswar’s placement of a backspin shot at the back line is enough to take this point.
Now Parameswar has the serve and is sending over aggressive shots, but Elezi is able to take the point. The long rallies continue with impressive shot after impressive shot from both players, but in the end, it’s Elezi who’s able to hold out as she takes another point from Parameswar. Elezi goes on to win the court for Naperville North, giving the blue and orange victories on the top singles and top doubles courts.
Naperville Central pulls ahead in the end
Despite the top court wins, Naperville North does not secure the overall victory in the rival school showdown. Naperville Central walks away with the win. A close final score of 3-4 Redhawks.
For more prep sports stories and highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page.
