Run ends in round of 16 for tennis hopefuls

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

Emily Reuland of Rosary was playing the best tennis of her career in the state tournament this week.

She won her first three matches to advance to the Sweet 16 on Friday against Kristy Dodge of Barrington, the third-seeded player.

Dodge won the first set 6-4, and then Reuland's legs started cramping during the second set.

Despite the pain, Reuland won the second set 6-3. But it proved too much to overcome and Dodge pulled out the match with a 6-3 win in the third and a ticket to today's quarterfinals.

"Emily gave it everything she had and if it weren't for the cramps, I think she could have won," Rosary coach John Tsang said. "But it was too difficult to overcome. She was overpowering Kristy on forehands, backhands and first serves. This weekend she played the best tennis she ever played. She had all the weapons to make it real far."

"I was having a great match," Reuland said. "The last two sets my leg cramps were getting to me and I couldn't move. My body just gave up on me and that was really disappointing. I'm really happy with the way I played in this tournament. But I'm frustrated I couldn't get to Saturday and also because there's no backdraw."

Before that last match, Reuland won a grueling two-set match, 6-4, 7-6 (2) over Nell Boyd of Buffalo Grove, and then she was out on the court for the match with Dodge 20 minutes later.

"It's tough to play in consecutive matches at such a high level," Tsang said. "I think that first match took its toll on her body. There were a lot of long points."

Sisters Jourdan and Kylee Jackson of Oswego East also made it to the round of 16 before bowing out, while Adelina Koleva and Christina Chang of IMSA and Brooke and Haley Henry of West Aurora were eliminated in the third round.

In singles, Geneva's Kayla Fujimoto lost her third-round match.

"Our girls played pretty well considering that they were up hitting at 6:30 a.m. and didn't get to play until 11:30," West Aurora coach Brian Brooks said. "They only got to hit four minutes before they started because some ladies were using the court."

Brooke Henry graduates in the spring with four trips to the state tournament to her credit.

"She's done it all," Brooks said. "She's a team leader who went to state twice at singles and twice at doubles, and she got to play doubles with her sister at the state tournament. I know they're both happy about that."