Friday Matches:

Gabbie played two more back draw matches on Friday after losing her match to Mundelein’s Jasmine Minor in the main draw.  First she played Laura Shull from Springfield.  Gabbie started slowly but recovered from an early break in the first set to win it 6-4.  In the second set she stepped up her game and rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 win.

Gabbie’s second match was against Katie Zordani from Lake Forest.  The first set was fairly even, but as Gabbie found her stride she began to overpower the Lake Forest player.  After winning the first set 6-3 Gabbie really switched gears in the second set and was soon cracking winners from the baseline off both her forehand and backhand wings.  Gabbie’s game was really in the zone now and the service aces and groundstroke winners flowed off her racket in quick succession.  The second set went by in a flash as Gabbie finished it off with an inside-out forehand winner for a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Saturday:

Playing matches in the back draw on Saturday morning is a new experience for the U-High Girls Team, in fact, it is unprecedented.  Gabbie played Courtney Dolehide from Hinsdale Central.  Dolehide is a nationally ranked player and one of Hinsdale’s State Doubles Champions from last year.

Both Gabbie and her opponent held serve to start the match, but at 2-all Gabbie dropped serve.  With Dolehide serving at 3-2 Gabbie just missed with a forehand wide on the Sudden Death Point (SDP) and she was down 2-4.  Gabbie held for 3-4 with Dolehide to serve.  The next game Gabbie hit a series of great service returns, a forehand winner, a backhand crosscourt winner, and then broke serve with another forehand winner to even the set at 4-all.  Unfortunately, after doing all the hard work to get even in the set, Gabbie dropped her serve on a double fault to give Dolehide a 5-4 lead.  This time Dolehide took full advantage and served out the set at 6-4.

The first few games of the second set were hard fought and close, but Gabbie dropped serve twice and found herself down 0-4.  She fought back with a hold of serve at love, a break of Dolehide’s serve, and then another strong service game of her own to get back to 3-4. Dolehide responded to Gabbie’s run with a hold of serve of her own and took a 5-3 lead.  Gabbie kept the pressure on with a very strong service game of her own at love to get to 4-5.

The next game was pivotal and involved another SDP (Sudden Death Point).  Dolehide served at 5-4 and several long points later was up 40-30 with her first match point.  After a stirring rally Gabbie saved the first match point against her with a decisive forehand winner.  Now it was deuce and the sudden death point was huge for both players. If Gabbie won it she would break Dolehide’s serve and even the set at 5-5.  But if Dolehide won the point she would win the set and the match.   Dolehide responded to the occasion by attacking at the first opportunity.  She sprinted to net after a brief rally from the baseline and belted a forehand up the line that landed right on the sideline in Gabbie’s backhand corner.  Gabbie scrambled and defended with a short lob that Dolehide tapped away to win the point and the match, 6-4, 6-4.

This was a high quality match from beginning to end, and Gabbie acquitted herself very well.  Despite the numerous breaks of serve, the match featured many superb baseline rallies, blistering drives, breathtaking displays of foot speed, and outright winners and service aces in abundance.  Both players deserve credit for producing a thrilling and well-played match.

With her performance at state this year, Gabbie accomplished several things that no other girl U-High player has ever accomplished—playing on the third day of the State finals, leading her team to a best ever 20th place finish, and finishing in the top 16 at singles for two years in a row.

Posted on October 25th, 2008 by ghanck
Filed under: HS Girls Tennis