Coming off a very exciting doubles Sectional Championship victory last weekend, Maggie and Kelly Ruane entered the State Tournament playing in 40-degree temperatures on Thursday, looking to make it to Day Two and hopefully farther. They easily defeated Elgin Academy 6-1, 6-2, then played 17th seeded Edwardsville, beating them 6-2, 6-4. They were on a roll until their next match against the top-seeded doubles team in the State from Stevenson High School. The twins fought and were close on many of the points, but Stevenson is in a league of their own and beat the twins 6-0, 6-1.
The two wins earned them the opportunity to advance to Day Two of State and play the doubles team from Kaneland. The match began at 8 a.m. with temperatures at 33 degrees. Angelica Emmanouil & Madison Jurcenko were not the most talented tennis players, or athletically gifted duo the Ruane twins had faced this year. But they were fundamentally sound, making very few mistakes and placing the ball down the line or up the middle several times to earn points. However, the real story of the game was the "No Ad" rule. The two teams went to deuce (40-40) seven times during this match and Kaneland won all seven of those points. Had they been able to play them out under normal rules, it most likely would have been a different outcome. But credit has to go to Kaneland for taking advantage of that rule and winning. That ended the Ruanes high school tennis career at Providence. In their senior season, they compiled a 43-7 record, 8-1 in conference and finished second in the East Suburban Catholic Conference Tournament. They won their second Sectional Doubles Title and for the fourth time qualified for the State Tournament.
There are several colleges recruiting them and they hope to make a decision by Christmas.
Their teammate, sophomore Hannah Davis, was also eliminated on Day Two by Hinsdale Central's Sophia Haleas, 6-1, 6-0. On Thursday in the first round of play, Davis defeated Effingham 6-1, 6-1 before losing to the second seed in the State, Tiffany Chen, who beat Davis 6-3, 6-0. Wins over Auburn (Rockford) and Barrington, got her a ticket to Day Two.
After Day One of the tournament, Providence's wins placed them as a top 20 team in the State at 19th. For grammar school players interested in joining the winning girls tennis tradition at Providence Catholic, you can contact head coach Ben Thompson through the Providence website (www.providencecatholic.org) under Athletics 2000.
