When IHSA officials seeded the Class 2A state girls tennis tournament, they projected an area dream championship matchup of Lyons freshman Jessie Janiak as the first seed and Sandburg senior Estela Loureiro second.
It didn’t happen that way, but Loureiro made history by winning the state championship and Janiak gave notice to the rest of the state that she, too, might be a future state champ.
Loureiro won six matches, including a 6-2, 6-3 victory over New Trier’s Julia Ludwig on Oct. 24 at Buffalo Grove for the title.
The Iowa-bound Loureiro had a 5-0 lead in the second set, but dropped several match points. After she finally nailed it down, she shouted in triumph.
“It was a humongous relief,” Loureiro said. “I felt so happy and it was an unreal moment. I screamed very loudly, ‘Come on, let’s go!’ and I had given my friend (Ludwig) a hug and said, ‘I love you’ and she said she loved me back.
“I thought it was great for both of us.”
Loureiro became just the third Southwest Regional Publishing area champion, joining Lyons’ Margie Lepsi (1991) and Lahari Yelamanchili (2016).
Janiak, however, could be joining that short list. Lyons coach Clint Buetikofer was impressed with how she handled a quarterfinal loss to Ludwig and went on to win three more matches to become the only non-senior in the top 5.
“She regrouped really quickly,” he said. “She had to play a match in the back draw basically right after that loss. It was really amazing to see that.”
Sandburg coach Brian Ostrander was also impressed with the Lyons freshman and predicts she will be in line to win a state championship eventually.
“She has a different style of playing,” he said. “She had a lot of composure and she did not look like a freshman. She’s a little thing and she’s strong and looks like she can run all day.”
Meanwhile, Ostrander is savoring Loureiro’s big win.
“This may never happen again at our school,” Ostrander said. “(Loureiro) really wanted to win this for our team and our school. For our sport, this was super historic.”
Team-wise, Lyons finished fifth with 21 points.
Senior Abby Sullivan closed her career going 3-2 and reaching the fourth round of the consolation bracket.
The doubles team of junior Elise Novey and sophomore Chloe Owens finished 4-2 and reached the consolation quarterfinals. The Lions doubles team of senior Sophia Dalgety and freshman Olivia Orlando went 2-2.
Sandburg finished eighth with 16 points.
The Eagles doubles team of junior Clare Colby and senior Molly Hardek went 1-2 to contribute to the scoring.
Marist’s doubles team of seniors Molly Haynes and Claire Neely was the only other area entry to pull off a victory in 2A, going 1-2.
In Class 1A, Nazareth’s doubles team of senior Elaine McNamara and sophomore Medeline Pansing plus junior singles player Isabella Gomez took the same path in the tournament.
They won their first three matches and lost their next two to give the Roadrunners 12 points, good for 11th place.