After some rain delays and match cancellations, Neuqua Valley Girls Tennis hosts a long-awaited DVC match against Naperville North. The Huskies are looking to pick up their second DVC win of the year, after beating Naperville Central before falling to Metea last week. The breeze takes them against the Wildcats coming off recent conference wins over Waubonsie and DeKalb. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Neuqua starts with a doubles victory
We start the action with two doubles, as the Wildcat duo of Emma Matthew and Annika Chen go against Huskies Emma Eun and Neiva Bandyopadhyay. The serve gets the set underway, and quickly the Cats pounce as they hit a return short off to the side and out of reach of the Huskies, earning a point.
A bit later on opposite sides, Neuqua continues to strike as they hit a line drive down the middle for another score. The Wildcats claim the match with straight-set scores of 6-1 and 6-0.
Woller-Li helps the Huskie cause
On to the other two’s in singles action. Wildcat Grace Qu clashes against Huskie Makaelynn Woller-Li. Similar to the doubles match, Woller-Li strikes on the serve, moving up and securing the quick angle to the side to give North life.
A little later on the other side, she is again strong on the rush, pushing forward and getting a quick hit on the court. She claims two singles in a straight-set win behind matching 6-0 scores.
Let’s slide down to doubles again with the top match. Wildcats Kaylee Shen and Mehar Kaur square off against Huskies Esther Forester and Zannah Chien. Early on, it’s a continuous rally between the back players on both teams, that is until play switches to the players at the net. Neuqua tries to send a deep return, catching North off guard, but the ball sails too far and lands out of bounds as the Huskies keep the pace flowing.
Neuqua responds a bit later; they switch to short range and hit it towards the back, and North saves it, just keeping the ball in range, but the return to sender is granted, and Neuqua takes the opportunity on the second chance for the score. The Cats snag the first set 6-2.
Into the second set, a rally breaks out between both sides. The ball is in play for a long time until it finally comes crashing down next to our cameras, and North is unable to capitalize, handing Neuqua the point. The top Wildcats doubles team takes the match in straight sets by the score of 6-2 and 6-4.
A thriller in three singles
To three singles we go, Wildcat Hannah Jacover squares up against Huskie Angela Hu. The opening set gets going in a semi-long rally between both players, but like the other matches before them, Jacover gets close to the net and finds the angle, bouncing it over to a spot that evades Hu’s reach, securing a Neuqua point.
Hu has a response later in the set. In the midst of going back and forth with Jacover, the Huskie gets the Wildcat off balance, forcing a shot right on the boundary line. The shot just goes beyond the white to hand the Huskie a point in a neck-and-neck second set.
The set would go to extras, and Jacover is on top and looking to close things out. She goes hit for hit again with Hu and looks to force an error from the Huskie. That does happen as a shot towards the boundary line is made by Hu; her attempt, however, lands just beyond the baseline, handing the Wildcat not only the point, but the win, claiming the match in straight sets of 6-3 and 7-5.
The last matchup of the afternoon comes in one singles between Wildcat sophomore Jennifer Tang and Huskie Anda Elezi with the team score locked up at 3-3. Elezi takes it to task against one of the top DVC tennis players. She gets Tang chasing all around the court, forcing her off balance, until a backhanded attempt goes into the side of the net and out of bounds.
Neuqua Valley earns the narrow victory
But Tang would go on a run from there, seizing momentum for much of the match and needing a single point to claim the victory. She gets things going by catching Elezi off balance and all over the middle of the court. With the Huskie off her footing, she drives home the dagger through the court to hand Neuqua the decisive victory. Following another extremely competitive conference battle, the Cats earn a tough 4-3 win. The DVC regular season wraps up next week with the postseason rapidly approaching.
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