ETHS Doubles Team Qualifies For State

No one really minds finishing fourth at the girls sectional tennis tournament.

Why? Because that means you’ve got another week of competition ahead of you.

The Evanston doubles team of Mia Darer and Linden Wadsworth lived up to their No. 4 seed at the Class 2A Maine South Sectional tournament Saturday and claimed one of the automatic state qualifying spots for the Illinois High School Association state finals.

The Wildkit pair ended a program drought by winning two matches on Friday, then losing to the defending state champions from New Trier and Maine South’s No. 1 team. The Kits haven’t qualified for State since the doubles team of Margot Connor and Annie Hedges made their second straight trip in 2018.

Darer and Wadsworth will take an overall won-loss record of 8-10 to the state finals that open Thursday, at a site still to be determined. Hersey will host the state finals on Saturday.

The achievement marked the first time head coach Leanne Baker has a state qualifier added to her coaching resume.

“After last year, I was wondering if it was ever going to happen,” Baker said. “I’m really excited for them. It’s so nice that they get to keep playing for another week. The goal was to get to State --- and they got to State!

“They had some big wins during the season --- they beat the No. 1 teams from Deerfield and Highland Park --- and they earned their seed. They played their game on Friday and they were aggressive at the net, and consistent from the baseline. Today I thought they actually played really well in the first match against New Trier. They had a few more unforced errors in the second match than they generally do.”

Darer, a senior, and Wadsworth, a junior, opened tourney play Friday with a 6-0, 6-0 romp past Leyden’s Julia Augustyn and Allison Briones, then eliminated Maine South’s Lauren Geier and Charlotte Hartung with a 6-1, 6-1 triumph that nailed down a berth in the semifinals.

New Trier’s Arianne Lesterhuis and Keri Rothenberg won the first set 6-0, but the Wildkit pair did have some highlights in the second set, including Wadsworth’s ace on game point in the first game. Wadsworth’s winner at the net also produced another win before the Trevians pulled away for a 6-2 final.

In the third place match, Maine South’s Kristina Nikolova and Emma Militaru prevailed 6-1, 6-0.

Evanston’s other doubles entry, seniors Norah Wolf and Esther Mueller, was ousted in the second round by Nikolova/Militaru (6-2, 6-2) after advancing with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Angela Lope and Edda Milosavljevic of Chicago Taft.

In singles play, ETHS senior Maggie Cummins bowed out with a 6-3, 6-1 loss to top-seeded Ava Katz of New Trier. Earlier, Cummins defeated Maine East’s Aleksandra Simic 6-1, 6-0. Sophomore Quynh Lenz also split her matches, topping Maine West’s Syd Houdek (6-0, 6-2) and losing to No. 2 seed Sobia Shethwala 6-2, 6-1.