Tigresses playing for history in state tennis

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The chain of events leading to the Princeton girls’ tennis team reaching the state meet this week started on Sept. 26.

PHS senior Michaela Nelson tore her ACL in the L-P Invite and was lost for the season. Her doubles record with Emiley Brand at that time was 16-3.

Brand first played with No. 1 singles player Evinne Dimming against Geneseo. Then she teamed with No. 2 Tristan Hicks against Ottawa and Kewanee, and they won both of the matches.

Hicks went back to singles for the NCIC and placed second while Brand teamed up with Alex Beetz.

PHS coach Connie Lind allowed Hicks, who would have been seeded in singles at sectional, to decide which way to go for sectionals. She elected to play doubles with Brand.

Hicks says she’s still learning how to play the doubles lines and Brand says she’s still learning how to play with Hicks.

But Hicks’ decision proved to seal the deal in sending all six PHS girls to qualify for state — Brand and Hicks along with the team of Lindsay Ferank and Courtney Schafer in doubles and Dimmig and Beetz in singles — and winning the sectional championship to boot.

And the rest is history, as Lind says with a few exclamation points, school history.

Lind is quite elated, and she should be. She may not be able to count on her Cubs coming through, but she sure can about her Tigresses.

“I’m so proud of these six girls and what they’ve accomplished. They accomplished something that has never been done before in Princeton’s history of tennis,” Lind said.

As you read this early Thursday morning, the six PHS girls are dispersed in the western suburbs ready to play their state opening round matches.

They will be playing at four different sites, each chasing the same dream. To cover all their bases, Lind will stay with Hicks and Brand in Arlington Heights, assistant coach Beth Peacock will be with Dimmig in Elk Grove Village, tennis mom Natalie Schafer (Courtney) will be with her daughter’s doubles team in Buffalo Grove and tennis mom Laura Massey (Alex Beetz) will be with her daughter in Prospect.

It will be quite the challenge as PHS could take on girls from schools 9-10 times its size in the one-class IHSA tennis system.

There are 146 schools competing at state, but Princeton is one of only nine to qualify a full team six players.

Stay tuned to www.bcrnews.com as we try to provide updates throughout the day Thursday.

PHS state history: PHS has never qualified as a team to state before, but it has certainly had its share of state qualifiers.

The first were Dawn Krug and Diane Lymberopolous, who qualified as doubles partners in the mid-80s. Singles qualifiers have come in cycles with Nicole Coates (’89), Valerie Feist (’90), Lori Judge (’93) and then the group of Abby Griggs (’04), Laura Krabill (’07) and Dimming (’08).

State pairings: Frank and Schafer will face Renee Lepine and Meredith Abrahamson of Wilmette Loyola Academy at Buffalo Grove High School. The PHS duo stands 25-7.

Also in doubles, Hicks and Brand will meet Meghan Ahlgrim and Mary Kate Lee of Libertyville at Arlington Heights Hersey High School.

Dimmig, who stands 21-11 on the year, will kick off her return to state against Lauren Hoekstra, a freshman from downstate Effingham, at Elk Grove Village. Beetz will square off against Emily Meyers, a sophomore from Naperville Neuqua Valley, at Prospect.

Remembering: I’d like to pass on condolences to the families of Mort Landreth and Chuck Tracy, both who passed away last week in Princeton.

Mort was a big Cub fan and like Jim Smith said, became fast friendds with everyone when he moved to town. I first met Chuck when i was a young whipper-snapper and he was a wise veteran in the fastpitch church league. He was an inspiration and I think of him each year I keep trying to keep up with the young guys in the league.

Kevin Hieronmus is the BCR Sports Editor. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com.

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