Kits Keep It Loose, Score 3 Doubles Wins At State

There’s no doubt that Mia Darer and Linden Wadsworth were among the qualifiers who were “just happy to be there” at the Illinois High School Association state tennis tournament this week.

And once they achieved that goal, the Wildkit doubles team earned one of the best finishes in program history.

Adopting a “loose as a goose” attitude that kept any pressure at racquet’s length, the duo won 3 of 5 matches before being eliminated Friday afternoon in the consolation draw at Fremd High School in Palatine.

With those three victories, Darer and Wadsworth matched the performance by past ETHS doubles teams in 2015 (Jessica Ampel and Abbey Moore) and 2004 (Brigit Larson and Erin Fenn).

Evanston doesn’t exactly have a rich history in doubles in the sport, although back in 1975 and 1976 when girls first got the opportunity to play in a state tournament the team of Sandy Dean and Julie Dowdall actually scored back-to-back runnerup finishes at State. Since then, doubles wins --- or even qualifiers --- haven’t come with regularity.

Darer and Wadsworth changed that dynamic this week by not letting the chance to play on the final weekend of the season get into their heads and create unrealistic expectations.

After losing to Metea Valley’s Sophia Cahue and Sarina Saleem 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 in the first round, the Evanston team stormed to three straight victories over Avery Anderson/Vienna Quach of Normal Community (6-1, 6-0), Mira Schmidt and Gabrielle Gold of Highland Park (5-7, 6-2, 10-2) and sisters Tessa and Summer Fabsik of Lake Zurich (6-1, 6-1) on Thursday.

On Friday, following a four-hour wait because of a morning rainstorm, they lost the season finale 6-4, 6-1 to Shannon Lu and Danielle Dejanovich of St. Charles North.

“During the season when we played, we were not very confident all the time,” said Wadsworth, a junior. “I was just so happy when we got here because my only goal for the season was to make it to the state tournament. When we played that first match my attitude was oh, I’ve got to do everything I can to win! Then I realized I should just stay loose and that whatever I do out there is fine.”

“I was tight at first, too,” said Darer, a senior who started on Evanston’s Final Four soccer team in 2022. “But there was really no pressure on us and after that we started playing really loose. We just wanted to go as far as we could go and I think we played some of the best tennis we’ve played all year.”

Evanston head coach Leanne Baker would agree.

“They were excited to be here and they came out and played really well as a team. They supported each other well and they fed off each other (in good moments),” said the coach. “To win three matches at State is really a huge thing for them. Since it was their first time at State we weren’t sure what to expect, but we knew if they played well, they had a chance to hold their own.

“Saint Charles was just a better team today. They had a lot more firepower than the other teams we played.”

The solid finish to the season allowed the ETHS team to compile a final won-loss record of 11-12. And it was a satisfying finish especially for Wadsworth as the 6-foot-1 junior dominated at the net following the mutual decision between player and coach to focus on doubles instead of singles for postseason play this year.

Wadsworth played at the No. 1 singles position as a sophomore --- and will likely focus on singles next year as a senior. “I told coach I wanted to play whatever will get me to State,” Wadsworth said.

“Linden just missed (qualifying for State) the last couple of years and we talked about trying to figure out the best way to get someone to State,” Baker said. “We thought this would be a good year for them to combine in doubles for the sectional, although as it turned out, I think Linden would have made it if she played singles.”

On Thursday, Wadsworth’s tennis instincts kicked in. She picked just the right moments to come to the net, and finished about 90 percent of those opportunities with volleys for points. She was precise and at times overpowering in the wins over Normal, Highland Park and Lake Zurich.

“In previous years I’ve really struggled with my volleys,” Wadsworth admitted. “I just kept working at it. Today I did my best to get to every ball and I was finally able to put it all together.”

“She’s played a lot of tennis, and watched a lot of tennis, and she knows what she’s doing,” Baker praised. “She really peaked as a player at this tournament. Those are just tennis instincts that you saw today and it’s something you can’t coach. You grow up with it, and you have it. She competed really well and she knows how to execute a game plan.”

Evanston’s net play, with Darer sometimes setting up volleys for her partner and then vice versa, made the difference against Normal Community. The Kits needed a tiebreaker in the third set against Highland Park, rallying from a deficit to eliminate the Giants by a 10-2 margin by scoring the first four points in the tiebreaker format.

That set up a stamina test that the pair passed easily in the fourth match of the day as they only dropped two games while ousting Lake Zurich.

“I actually played four matches this summer (two singles, two doubles) in a USTA tournament,” Wadsworth noted. “I am tired. My fitness hasn’t been where I wanted it to be because I had walking pneumonia for about two months and didn’t know it at first. I just kept playing through it.”

Darer has divided her practice time between soccer and tennis all four years at ETHS and even “in season” for tennis, she’s playing for a club soccer team that also advanced to the state tournament.

“Mia’s just been super solid for us all four years,” said Baker. “She’s someone you can really depend on in big moments in matches. She’s been a big part of our team and she’ll leave a big hole when she graduates.”