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Sports

Maine West Sports Roundup: Girls Tennis Off to Undefeated Start

Boys soccer captured a tournament championship while football suffered a key injury in another loss.

Maine West girls' tennis coach Neal Sipkovsky didn’t expect an undefeated start to the 2011 season. In fact, he thought the Warriors would be closer to 0-4 than 4-0.

“We had a lot of turnover. We had seven graduates from last year, seven seniors on last year’s team,” Sipkovsky said. “We thought we might be starting in a hole, maybe a slow start with new call-ups.”

This is one instance where Sipkovsky will gladly admit his lack of predictive prowess. Maine West is now 4-0 in dual matches on the year. The Warriors won only six matches all of last season.

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Earlier: 

The Warriors have managed their fast start with a trio of senior captains and some talented freshmen and sophomores. Seniors Beth Schaefer, Cara Franke and Jordan Eshafi are a combined 12-0 on the year. Franke is in her fourth year on varsity while Schaefer and Eshafi are starting their third season for Maine West.

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“They are setting the stage for everyone else by doing well themselves,” Sipkovsky said. “It takes the pressure off their teammates.”

Even with the team’s success, Sipkovsky keeps his lineup fluid.

“You better be prepared to play both singles and doubles on any given day, with multiple partners in doubles,” Sipkovsky said. “We like to flip the lineup a lot.”

But one spot he has set in stone is his No. 1 doubles team of Ania Holubecki and Rachel Andersen. The two sophomores played as a team last season in the No. 2 doubles spot and Sipkovsky feels they work well enough together to pair them in the lineup permanently.

Maine West’s schedule only gets tougher and with CSL South foes New Trier, Glenbrook South and Maine South still to come, there is definitely work to be done. But Sipkovsky will take the surprising start, even if it’s not what he anticipated.

“I thought we might be struggling early in the season, but the new players have stepped in and our returning players are playing better than they ever have,” Sipkovsky said.

Boys Golf: Maine West lost a close match to Highland Park in its last dual meet, falling 156-160 on September 6. Tony Volk picked up medalist honors after shooting a 37 on nine holes.

Boys Soccer: After an to Leyden last week, Maine West responded nicely with three straight wins in Wisconsin to capture the Fondy Tournament championship.

Coach Mike Divincenzo was not pleased with his team’s defensive effort after giving up four goals to Leyden, and the Warriors responded by allowing only two goals in three games. Maine West captured the championship by defeating Sun Prairie 2-1, on September 2 and winning back-to-back contests against Ronald Reagan High School (7-0) and Marshfield (4-1) on September 3.

Alex Herrera, Luis Zarate, Jerry Espinoza and Spencer Walton all had big weekends for the Warriors. Herrera and Zarate each had three goals while Walton and Espinoza both had a pair of scores. Zarate also had three assists on the weekend.

Maine West lost its last CSL South game, falling to Evanston 2-1 on September 6. FOOTBALL: Maine West fell to Fenton on the road 28-7, and lost one of its key players in wing back and cornerback B.J. Lambert.  The loss kept Maine West (0-2) winless and the lone bright spot was QB Jake Korbecki, who had a two-yard touchdown run just before halftime.

Cross Country: Maine West’s boys cross-country team went 1-1 in its first tri-meet of the season. The Warriors fell to Maine South 16-43, but defeated Maine East 19-41. The Warriors were led by Alex Gasca (18:00), Felipe Garcia (18:22) and Eric Vogel (18:31), who all finished in the top 10.

The girls team lost both of its matchups against Maine South (15-50) and Maine East (20-38). Junior Mayra Velazquez was Maine West’s best finisher, crossing the line with a time of 24:06, good for 11th place.

Girls Golf: Maine South defeated Maine West 174-199 Aug. 31.

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