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Glenbrook South’s Nelson going solo

April 3, 2012 By

(Glenview Announcements)  Glenbrook South’s Olivia Nelson was one of the top badminton doubles players in the state last season.

This spring, the senior will see if she also is one of the best singles players around.

After qualifying for the state tournament as a sophomore and junior with doubles partner Angela Cho, Nelson is going solo in her final year as a Titan.

“She’s a pretty good one,” said Glenbrook South coach Terri Kimura. “She has to be a little quicker this year and be able to cover more court. But she’s already beaten one of the better girls in the state this season.”

That win came against Bradley-Bourbonnais’ Susan Oo, a 5-8 seed in last season’s state tournament.

Nelson’s move to No. 1 singles displaced Diana Diaconu, who now plays at No. 2 singles. But Kimura looks at it as if she has two No. 1’s.

“Both are going back to the state tournament, no doubt in my mind,” Kimura said of the fourth-year varsity veterans.

Senior Vicki Powers and junior Mackenzie O’Brien take over at No. 1 doubles this spring. The pair played together last season and missed making the state tournament by one match.

“They are very hungry after what happened last year,” the coach said.

Kimura said Powers and O’Brien are more confident in themselves this season, and are able to let a bad point go.

“They are more relaxed,” Kimura said. “At the end of last season, they were pushing too much. This year, they are able to laugh off mistakes that bugged them last season. That makes a big difference.”

Seniors Christina Khouri and Julia Steffen are paired at No. 2 doubles. The duo started the season at No. 3, but earned a promotion with its play this spring.

Meanwhile, senior Caley Howland and junior Ellen Takagi are occupying the No. 3 doubles spot. Kimura said those two positions always are up for grabs.

“There’s going to be battle for that No. 2 doubles,” she said. “The competition is good for us.”

After a week of practice, the Titans face a tough test at Prospect’s tournament on Saturday.

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Badminton Swings Into Gear

March 21, 2012 By

(Journal Online)  Badminton is like the weather this early spring season, getting off to an early, fast start.

In the last week, traditional powerhouse teams like Fremd, Palatine, Glenbrook South, and Buffalo Grove all participated in large invitational tournaments. It was the second week of badminton competition.

• Maine South, which sent two doubles teams to state last year and finished in 26th place, lost three/fourths of those two doubles pairs to graduation, is doing some rebuilding this year, according to coach Eve Muir-Wilson. But the Hawks impressed with 20 points and a 3rd place finish at the Buffalo Grove invitational last weekend. Junior Natalie Michalski won at 3rd singles, senior Lindsey Zawila placed 3rd at 2nd singles, and juniors Becca Klages and Meghan Salgia finished 3rd at 1st doubles.

In early competition so far, Salgia and Klages have opened at 1st doubles for the Hawks, and Cassie Doody has begun at 1st singles, with Salgia at 2nd.

“We have only four seniors this year, none of whom have been to state,” Muir-Wilson said. “This year will be a growing year for us, but the girls are working really hard and have done well so far.”

At this same invite, the host Bison, with state medalists Michelle Byjos and Nell Boyd gone, still showed power with 26 points and a second place finish to winner Wheaton South.

• Fremd, which sent Angela Wu and Annie Huang to the state finals last year, still is deep and talented. The Vikings won the Palatine invitational last weekend with 31 points. Defending state champ Sandburg was 2nd with 22 points, Palatine was 4th with 17 points, and Prospect 5th with 14.

This invite featured a singles confrontation between state 2011 quarterfinalists Wu and Maggi Von Grondelle of Palatine, who won the state doubles title with Tomoyo Tsurumi last year. Von Grondelle prevailed this time, and the two will likely meet several more times this season.

Fremd, however, showed much more depth up and down its lineup than did Palatine and Prospect.

• At the Rolling Meadows quad, Stevenson showed it would be a major force in area competition when it swept all the singles and doubles levels in a 30 point victory at the Mustang quad. Meadows was second with 16 points.

In a shortened, 10-game format, the Patriots blanked Meadows, McHenry, and Lake Forest.

Meadows defeated Lake Forest, 6-4, with singles victories by Laura Srnak, Phoebe Kim, and Ericka Slusarczyk. The Mustangs also shut out McHenry, 10-0.

• Glenbrook South, which sent Angela Cho and Olivia Nelson in doubles, and Diana Diaconu and Crystal Thomas in singles, to state last year, lost only three seniors and has looked strong in winning the Palatine quad and placing 2nd in the Buffalo Grove invite last week. In addition to veterans Nelson and Diaconu, the Titans have eight other varsity returnees.

• Two other 2011 state qualifiers that return this year and will be significant talents for other teams are Cindy Wong at Maine West, and Lillian Armoush at Leyden.

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Returning Talent Sparks GBS Badminton

March 20, 2012 By

(Journal Online) Glenbrook South’s badminton players wasted no time this season getting on the court against two of the state’s perennially best teams.

The Titans, with two 2011 state qualifiers back and 10 varsity players from last year’s formidable team, took on Fremd and Buffalo Grove at the Bison invitational last weekend. BG led all area teams at the state finals last year with a 7th place finish. Fremd was 13th.

The results last Friday for the Titans were impressive. Fremd won the five-team event with 28 points, the Titans were 2nd with 19, and the host Bison were third with 11 points. Also participating were New Trier (14 points) and Glenbard East (8).

Angela Cho and Crystal Thomas graduated last year. Olivia Nelson, who teamed with Cho last year to reach the state consolation doubles quarterfinals, and state qualifier Diana Diaconu are back to carry on the Titan tradition of quality and success in this sport in 2012.

Nelson was 2nd in 1st singles at BG, Dianocu was 2nd at 2nd singles, and Claire Plack won at 4th singles. In doubles, Titan pairs were runners-up at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd doubles.

The Titans got off to a slow start this year with a 15-3 dual loss to New Trier. But the Titans turned around and defeated most of the Trevians they faced at the Bison event. They also won the Palatine quad.

“I think we’ll be very good this year,” said Titan coach Teresa Kimura. “We only lost three seniors, and we have 10 varsity players back. We hope to bring a full team to state this year.”

Returning varsity players, in addition to Nelson and Diaconu, are Brittany Balzano, Caley Howland, Christina Khouri, Mackenzie O’Brien, Claire Plack, Vicki Powers, Julia Steffen, and Ellen Takagi. Newcomers are Maureen Andersen, Emma Cashman, Maggie Kramer, and Meg Nash.

Powers, O’Brien, Khouri, Steffen, Howland, and Takagi got the doubles runner-up finishes at Buffalo Grove.

To keep the “we’ll play anyone” philosophy going, the Titans were scheduled to face defending state champion Sandburg and Glenbrook North in separate events this week, and then go to the Hersey invitational on Saturday.

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Cho-Nelson bag 4 wins at State

May 19, 2011 By

(Glenview Announcements) Glenbrook South sent a doubles team and two singles players to last week’s IHSA State Tournament in Charleston.

All went home with a sense of satisfaction.

“I think it was a great trip,” GBS head coach Terri Kimura said. “We set goals, and met them all. You couldn’t ask for anything more. I think everybody did what they wanted to do. All made goals that were not too far out of reach, and all were accomplished.”

Leading the way was the doubles team of senior Angela Cho and junior Olivia Nelson, who went 4-2 and scored three points, eventually bowing out in the consolation bracket quarterfinal.

The duo’s goal had been to reach the second day of competition. They accomplished that with a 21-19, 21-16 win over Glenbard East’s Stacy Krebs and Kirsten Sipek in Friday’s consolation bracket fourth-round match. Earlier that day, the GBS pair defeated New Trier’s Nikki VanderPal and Christina Zibart 19-21, 21-13, 21-16.

Cho and Nelson certainly looked like the experienced state-meet performers that they were, becoming GBS’ first Saturday qualifiers in three years.

On Saturday, Cho and Nelson defeated Lockport’s Becca Krzyszkowski and Lisa Miotti 21-19, 21-19 before seeing their run come to an end with a 21-19, 21-10 loss to Bradley-Bourbonnais’ Madeline Vaccaro and Neha Chaden.

“The Lockport game was the best I’ve ever seen (Cho and Nelson play),” Kimura said. “They were playing smart and when they made a mistake, they didn’t let it get them down. They were playing their game, and playing well. The Lockport girls seemed intimidated by them.

“Against Bradley, the first game was close, both games were close, and could have gone either way. But (Bradley) got the momentum (in the second game). (Cho and Nelson) bowed out gracefully. They kept their heads high, had no tears and walked off the court proud.”

Kimura said GBS’s singles players, senior Crystal Thomas and junior Diana Diaconu, both admitted to experiencing some nerves early in the tournament.

Thomas went 3-2 at the event, scoring two points. She opened with a win over Wheaton North’s Mikaela Breese 21-18, 21-13, before losing to Aurora West’s Nicole Maenza 21-10, 17-21, 22-20.

After wins over Oswego’s Hajar Zaki (21-11, 21-18) and Hersey’s Jenn Hall (21-19, 21-14), Thomas’ fell to Hinsdale Central’s Kim Ziolkowski 21-17, 21-5.

Diaconu was hoping to win at least one match at State, and she accomplished that with a 21-16, 18-21, 21-14 win over Leyden’s Adrianna Sanchez in the second round. Diaconu ended up 1-2 on the day.

In 2012, Glenbrook South will build around the returning Nelson and Diaconu. Kimura said discussions already had taken place about Nelson focusing on singles.

“She’s going to try singles (as a first-choice event),” the coach said. “With (Cho) gone, you are always going to compare your new partner to your old partner. She wanted to try singles, and I think it will be good. There are a few things we’ll need to work with her on, but she should qualify for State, easily.”

Junior Vicki Powers was the team’s No. 4 singles player this season and is expected to move up the lineup along with classmate Julia Steffan. Powers also proved she can get the job done in doubles as she and sophomore Mackenzie O’Brien came within one match of qualifying for State at the sectional.

With the returning talent, Kimura believes her team might finally have what it takes to overcome New Trier in the conference, especially because the Trevians lose state singles champion Mari Georgiadis and the talented Dora Saclarides.

“We may really give them a run for their money,” said Kimura, who recently learned her team’s first dual meet of 2012 would be against the Trevians.

All-Conference: Nelson, Cho, Thomas, Diaconu and Powers all were recently named to the all-CSL team.

 

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South Swings With Best At Conference

May 2, 2011 By

Teresa Kimura, Glenbrook South’s badminton coach, knew she would have a pretty good season this year with Olivia Nelson and Angela Cho leading the way.

What she got last weekend was a very strong second place finish at the Central Suburban League conference final tournament, and a runner-up position to perennial conference power New Trier in the final conference standings.

Showing excellent depth as well as experienced talent at the top of the lineup, the Titans won three of the 12 singles competitions and placed in the top four in 10 of them. They also won four of the six doubles divisions and finished 4th in two others.

Overall, the Titans scored 70 points last Saturday in the varsity CSL tournament at Deerfield. New Trier won with 77 points. A total of nine Central Suburban League schools participated. Among other area schools, Maine South tied for 3rd with 53 points, Maine West was 5th with 47, and Maine East was 8th with 19.5 points.

Singles winners for GBS were Cho at 3rd singles, defeating Bekah Krech of Maine West, 21-4, 21-5; Crystal Thomas at 5th singles, defeating Vicki Ho of New Trier, 21-14, 21-16; and Nabeela Ahmed at 9th singles, who defeated Usuma Khainark of New Trier, 13-21, 21-13, 21-17. Other singles placers for GBS were Nelson, 3rd place at 1st; Diana Diaconu, 2nd place at 2nd; Vicki Powers, 3rd place at 4th; Caley Howland, 2nd place at 8th; Claire Plack, 4th place at 10th; Mackenzie O’Brien, 3rd place at 11th; and Ellen Takagi, 3rd place at 12th.

In singles conference competition, a player has to defeat four other competitors without a loss over a two-day period to win the division.

In doubles, as expected, Nelson and Cho, state qualifiers last year, won easily at the 1st level, 14-21, 21-11, 23-21. Diaconu and Thomas were tops at 2nd, Powers and O’Brien were best at 5th; and Plack and Christina Khouri won at the 6th level.

Ahmed and Julia Steffen, along with Howland and Takagi, both placed 4th at 3rd and 4th doubles.

GBS is assigned to the New Trier IHSA sectional complex and will participate in a sectional with 4-6 other teams on either Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, May 5-6-7.

The top four finishers in singles and doubles at a sectional advance to the state finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston on May 13-14.

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Glenbrook South still has New Trier in its sights

April 12, 2011 By

(Pioneer Press) Glenbrook South may have dropped an 11-7 decision to New Trier, but that doesn’t mean the Titans’ dream of a CSL title disappeared.

The championship is determined by conference-match wins rather than won-loss record. As of Monday, New Trier was just plus-1 match ahead of Glenbrook South.

“We would have liked to beat New Trier. It was on our list of things to do,” said Glenbrook South head coach Terri Kimura. “But we still have a shot to win conference. All I can do is tell the girls that every match, whether it’s No. 1 singles or No. 12 singles, is really important.”

Glenbrook South padded its win total on Monday by beating Maine West 18-0 in Glenview.

Among the many highlights were: a win by junior Diana Diaconu at No. 2 singles, a fairly comfortable 21-9, 21-7 victory by senior Angela Cho at No. 3 singles, and a much closer 21-19, 19-21, 21-13 win by senior Nabeela Ahmed at No. 9 singles.

On Saturday, the Titans placed second behind New Trier at the Prospect Invite.

Glenbrook South’s No. 2 doubles team of Ahmed and junior Julia Steffen finished second at Prospect, as did the No. 3 doubles of junior Caley Howland and sophomore Ellen Takagi. Titans junior Vicki Powers was second at No. 3 singles.

Three days earlier, GBS played a much closer match against New Trier than in previous seasons.

The duel was tied 3-3 after the completion of doubles matches, and the teams traded singles wins until the Trevians pulled away late.

“Even though we lost, we upped our game,” Kimura said. “We played a lot of three-set matches and played hard. We had them worried. It came down to matches at the end. We battled. It’s New Trier, and a lot of people are beaten before they walk onto the court (against New Trier).”

The Titans were scheduled to face Waukegan on Wednesday, then resume action Tuesday against Maine East.

Kimura is encouraging her No. 1 doubles team of junior Oliver Nelson and Cho to get out and play.

The talented duo, which qualified for the IHSA State Meet last season, has done a great job making the rest of their teammates better, according to Kimura. But the coach is unsure Nelson and Cho get as much benefit from working against members of their own squad. So, she’s advising them to seek competition elsewhere.

“My No. 1 doubles team is good, but their play is better than anyone on the team now. They are not being challenged at practice,” Kimura said. “I believe to get better you need to play teams and players better than you. I have encouraged them to go play in open gyms and find teams that will challenge them and that they will learn from.”

 

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