Glenwood girls gets their cake and eats it too in winning conference tennis title
The Chatham Glenwood girls tennis team is back on top.
After a brief hiccup and placing second to 2024 champion Normal U-High, Glenwood reclaimed the crown and won its fifth Central State Eight Conference tournament in six seasons on Oct. 11.
The Titans sealed the deal on the second day after coming into Saturday’s matches tied with U-High with 18 points apiece. Then Glenwood seniors Ellie Surges and Lydia Ryherd finished Nos. 1-2 in singles, and freshmen Sanvi Modi and Olivia Hallberg won a hard-fought doubles final.
To sum it up, the Titans finished with 28 points while partaking in a jubilant celebration on a glorious day at the Velasco Tennis Center in Washinton Park.
U-High was second with 22 points, and Jacksonville took third with 17½. Springfield High had 10 points, followed by Sacred Heart-Griffin (7½), Lincoln (4) and Rochester (2). Southeast-Lanphier (coop) and Decatur MacArthur did not score.
Titans put stranglehold on singles title
Whether its graduate Samantha Shankland, Surges or Ryherd, Glenwood has owned the CS8 singles draw for three straight seasons. In 2023 and 2024, Shankland and Surges finished 1-2, and on Saturday, it was Surges’ turn to grab the top medal after beating Ryherd 6-2, 6-2 in the all-Glenwood final.
The top-seeded Surges defeated No. 4 seed Sanvi Nadiger of U-High 7-5, 6-4 in the semifinals and the second-seeded Ryherd knocked off third seed Finley York of Jacksonville 6-3, 6-1. That was the plan from the beginning, said Ryherd, who settled in nicely as Glenwood’s No. 2.
“It really was nice to be able to have fun at the No. 2 spot with Ellie knowing we would be 1-2 at conference and 1-2 at sectional,” Ryherd said. “It’s really a blessing to have such a good top seven, a good conference team. I feel like I’ve gotten so much better playing everybody else’s play styles. Ellie, especially, has made me a better player. Our two freshmen — having them and having a good solid four — makes drilling so much easier and it makes practice go so much better.”
Glenwood coach Sonthana Thongsithavong praised Ryherd’s maturation during the final stretch of the season.
“Lydia is peaking at the right time; she took a big leap mentally,” Thongsithavong said. “She knows what she needs to do. I’m so happy for her coming from last year to this year, and making it to the finals, that’s awesome.”
Ryherd and Surges are also Glenwood’s No. 2 doubles team during the regular season, and the tandem is 14-0 in that spot.
“It’s super nice to pull out a win as a team,” said Surges, who is vying for her third straight trip to the Class 2A IHSA state singles finals. “It’s great for me as a team. All of the years I’ve been here, we’ve been able to produce really good singles tennis players. We love the game and it’s fun to have that success year after year.”
Birthday girl basks in win
It was Hallberg’s 15th birthday and a surprise cake appeared on the court amidst the Glenwood title celebration. That was after Modi and Hallberg claimed a 7-6 (6), 0-6, 6-4 championship doubles win over third seed Addie Cortese and Gabi Pecoraro of U-High. The top-seeded pair defeated fifth seed Risha Patel and Hallie Shoenberger of U-High 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals.
After the tournament, Hallberg’s smile said it all.
“This is probably the best birthday I’ve ever had,” she said. “From the beginning of the season to now, we’ve improved so much and it’s just so cool to finally (see it) come to fruition.”
Modi added: “We told (Hallberg), ‘We’re going to get you that (CS8) trophy today.’”
In a battle-tested third set, Glenwood raced out to a 4-1 lead before U-High answered by winning the next three games to even the score 4-4. But after Hallberg held her serve for the third time in the set, the Titans took a one-game lead and on 30-40, broke the Pioneers to win the final set 6-4.
“After losing the second set, we were like, ‘OK, this is our conference, we’re going to take this win,’” Modi said. “Since U-High got it last year, it was our goal as freshmen to take it this year. We’ve known these girls (U-High) for a while, so this was a big one for us. It was a test from August to now, how much we’ve improved and how much we’ve grown as people.”
Thongsithavong said the duo regrouped well after showing some cracks in the second set.
“These last two matches that they played here at conference were probably the best that I’ve seen them play mentally,” he said. “The best thing about this tournament was that they did not double fault a lot. I’m so proud of them, they did awesome.”
Jacksonville continues ascent
With 17½ points, the Crimsons moved up a notch from last season to third place. Jacksonville totaled 15½ points last season and placed fourth.
York recorded a 7-6 (3), 6-1 win over Nadiger in the third-place singles match.
Meanwhile, Leah Range and Abby White, seeded second in doubles, reached their first CS8 semifinal when they beat Class 1A state qualifiers Lucia Hassebrock and Catalina Mosquera of SHG 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the quarters.
Range and White lost a three-setter (4-6, 6-3, 6-3) to Cortese and Pecoraro in the semis before settling for fourth place following a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Patel and Shoenberger in the third-place match. The Jacksonville duo finished fifth last season.
The unseeded Hassebrock and Mosquera finished fifth by beating fourth seed Valentina Osgood and Madisyn Williams of Springfield High 7-5, 6-1.
Contact Trevor Lawrence: 788-1548, trevor.lawrence@sj-r.com.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: CS8 girls tennis sees Titans hold serve as Glenwood wins team title
