School’s first state medalists in the sport.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
Timothy Christian junior Abygale Ahn and freshman Cassandra Lee made some school history this past weekend.
Ahn and Lee finished third in the Class 1A girls state tennis doubles tournament, becoming the first individuals in school history to ever win a girls tennis state medal.
Ahn and Lee were the No. 1 seed heading into the Class 1A tournament and finished with a 5-1 record in the tournament.
Ahn and Lee started the tournament with a 6-1, 6-2 win over the Champaign Central team of Olivia Gunn and Allison Bergh. They defeated the Glenbard South team of Nicole Campbell and Lillian Taylor 6-1, 6-0 in the second round.
On the second day of the tournament, Ahn and Lee defeated the Rockford Lutheran team of Kaitlyn Larson and Alyssa Guse 6-1, 6-0 and then topped the Effingham St. Anthony team of Allison Kowalke and Claire Wortman 6-0, 6-1 in the state quarterfinals.
In the semifinals on the final day, Ahn and Lee dropped a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 contest to the Chatham Glenwood team of Anna Lytchakov and Medha Venigalla, but came back to record a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Ottawa Township team of Katie McGraw and Ellie Gallagher in the third-place contest.
“The most important thing for us was learning from our mistakes,” said Ahn. “That first match (semifinals) was tough. We came out of that match and we were able to be more aggressive and finish.”
Lee added: “We learned a lot from that first match. We fixed mistakes in the second one and finished stronger. The second match (semifinals) went well.”
Ahn and Lee were Timothy’s standout singles players for a majority of the season. They had played doubles together in one regular-season match and tournament as well as in the recent sectional where they went 4-0 to win the championship. In the postseason together, Ahn and Lee were 9-1.
“We feed off each other’s strengths,” said Ahn. “We learned from each other throughout the tournament and each match. It was a really good experience. We had better chemistry throughout the tournament.”
Lee, as a freshman, admitted she wasn’t sure what to expect on the big state-tournament stage.
“For my first time, it was a good experience,” she said. “Abby is a good partner and a good teammate and that made this a good experience. We both got to play doubles a little bit and we got to state and it was great playing with Abby.”
Ahn and Lee are ready to get to work on next season.
“We definitely are going to take from this experience going into the offseason,” said Ahn. “Our No. 1 priority is to have an even better experience next year.”
Ahn also won the Metro Suburban Conference Red Division No. 1 singles title, while Lee teamed with Avy Truax to win the No. 1 doubles conference title.
