Waubonsie Valley, Neuqua Valley, and Metea valley travel to West Aurora for an IHSA Girls tennis sectional. Plainfield North and East, along with Oswego and Oswego East are also competing. Neuqua Valley hopes to win a seventh straight Sectional title. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Defending IHSA State Champion Jessica Kovalcik takes on Waubonsie Valley Freshman Lydia Parranto
In the singles finals is defending state champion Jessica Kovalcik taking on Waubonsie Valley freshman Lydia Parranto. On this continuous back and forth rally, Parranto gets the edge catching Kovalcik on a bad angle. The ball lofts over to the other side where Parranto smacks it down for the point.
Later, Kovalcik keeps this play alive as Parranto hits it very lightly to the other side. The tiger senior capitalizes with a quick strike for the point to keep the match in her favor.
Parranto would continue to challenge Kovalcik in another back-and-forth swinging rally. The stalemate ends as the Warrior gets a low angle on Kovalcik who can’t get the ball in time as she gets the point to keep it a dead-heat.
However, Kovalcik would gain the advantage on Parranto as another back-and-forth possession ends with the Warrior unable to clear the other side. Kovalcik is the sectional singles champion winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
Neuqua Valley’s Sophia Chiou and Kylie Tran take on Zara Khan and Madalyn Finke in the doubles third-place match
Onto the doubles portion, we go to the third-place matchup between Neuqua Valley teammates Sophia Chiou and Kylie Tran taking on Zara Khan and Madalyn Finke. Both teams are heading to state by making it through to the semi finals.
Finke and Khan have their way early on as Finke gets the ball past the two wildcats and lands it in bounds for the point.
However, Chiou and Tran fight back as they get Finke off balance on this shot which lands out of bounds to get them back in it.
Then later on, they catch Finke off guard again as she can’t clear the shot to the other side and into the net. Chiou and Tran finish third in doubles with a straight-set win of 6-2, 6-2.
Waubonsie Valley girls tennis wins the 2024 West Aurora Sectional
Now onto the doubles championship between state qualifiers Metea Valley’s Sarina Saleem and Sophia Cahue against Waubonsie’s Sofia Parranto and Devi Rao.
The Warriors duo gets a decent start early as they return this shot just in bounds on the Mustangs side to give them the point and an early lead.
Metea have some tricks up their sleeves. Now playing a short game, they force Waubonsie back, and with no one in front, they hit a tap shot in bounds for the point to get them in reach.
The Mustangs now go the long game, where after some more volleys, Metea gets an angle just in bounds for another point as they take the momentum shift.
Waubonsie however, would come back. They take a page out of Metea’s book and shift to the long game where Rao swats it down from the back just in bounds to get them the point.
Metea eventually tries to rebound as they go for the strike, but it’s kept alive by Rao who hits it high in the back corner and keeps it in for the advantage. The Warriors duo wins the doubles championship with a straight-set win of 6-3, 6-3. It gives Waubonsie the final two points to win the sectional title with 22 points. It’s the first girls tennis sectional championship in Waubonsie Valley program history!
Plainfield North takes second with 20 points while Neuqua Valley finishes in third with 15.
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