Isabella Lorenzini let out a scream after swatting a forehand winner for the final point of the state girls tennis singles championship at Buffalo Grove.
With energy, passion and intensity, Lorenzini grunted and chanted her way to her first state title after a pair of runner-up finishes. In a rematch of the 2013 state final, Lorenzini defeated Naperville Central’s Tiffany Chen 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday, Oct. 24. Two years ago, Chen won 6-3, 7-5 (7-5).
“I was aggressive,” Lorenzini said. “I dictated play. That’s my game — I was aggressive.”
It was the third consecutive year that they met in the state tournament. Lorenzini defeated Chen, 6-3, 6-3, in last year’s semifinals before Lorenzini lost in the final to Carmel’s Brienne Minor.
“Isabella is a bulldog,” Hinsdale Central coach Scott Radecki said. “When she plays, she becomes intense. That’s why she’s successful. Her intense parts are hard to top. It’s her emotion.”
Lorenzini, a junior from Clarendon Hills, is the fourth member of her family to play tennis at Hinsdale Central and is by far the most vocal, with cries of “Come on!” and “Go. Right. Now,” after points. Lorenzini (19-0), who is ranked No. 29 nationally and No. 2 in the state among juniors by tennisrecruiting.net, grunts after each stroke and occasionally shakes her right firt after points. Sometimes she pats her right thigh before serves.
“That comes from myself. I love competing,” Lorenzini said. “It shows energy. It’s a big help to my game.”
Chen said she blots out the noise after playing Lorenzini so many times.
“You don’t let it get inside your head,” Chen said. “You can’t win them all, but we’re even overall in terms of wins and losses (over the years).”
Lorenzini became Hinsdale Central’s second singles state champion and first since Cece Cahill won back-to-back titles in 1985-86.
Isabella Lorenzini’s older sister, Caroline, won state championships at doubles with Marika Cusick in 2010 and ’11. Older brother Michael Lorenzini placed fifth at doubles in 2012 and third at singles in 2013, while Ronnie Lorenzini also played at Hinsdale Central.
Isabella Lorenzini joins three other Hinsdale Central girls as three-time singles state medalists: Sue Whitney (1977-79), Margaret Hopkins (1980-83) and Hanna Mar (2006-09). Betsy Heidler (1974-77) and Cahill (1983-86) won four singles medals.
New doubles produce points
By winning the state girls tennis doubles championship, Hinsdale Central sophomore Stephanie Dolehide proved she is fully recovered from her accident over the summer.
While riding a bike by her house on Garfield Avenue on June 2, Dolehide was struck a car that, she said, ran a red light. The accident kept her off the tennis courts for four months and forced her to miss the first month of the regular season. Her injuries ranged from a fractured tailbone to a torn labrum.
After her accident, Dolehide made her season debut Sept. 26 at a U.S. Tennis Association tournament. Her first high school action was Oct. 3 in a quadrangular at Lake Forest.
On Saturday, Dolehide combined with senior Sandra Keta to stun Stevenson’s defending state doubles champions, sophomores Katherine Harvey and Vinaya Rao, 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 7-5.
The championship match was delayed for 45 minutes after rain showers wiped out the morning portion of the final day. The doubles semifinals began at noon at Buffalo Grove and the championship match was halted due to darkness, with Harvey and Rao leading 5-0 in the second set. They concluded the match at Midtown Athletic Club in Palatine.
“This was an amazing feeling, having our opponents as two of my good friends (Harvey and Rao),” Stephanie Dolehide said. “I felt I had to live up to the legacy and do what my sister (Courtney) had done. Winning with Sandra is amazing.”
After Dolehide and then-partner Erika Oku lost in last year’s doubles final to Harvey and Rao, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, first-year Hinsdale Central coach Scott Radecki paired them with different partners. The plan reaped benefits when Oku and her new partner, Danielle Burich, reached the state semifinals and placed fourth in doubles, losing to Glenbrook North’s Colette O’Regan and Catherine O’Regan, 7-5, 6-1.
“Splitting them up spread the depth of our doubles,” Radecki said. “‘Doing your best for the team,’ that’s our motto. That’s why we have been so successful.”
“Everything happens for a reason,” Dolehide said. “Danielle and Erika did well together. Me and Sandra fit pretty well.”
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Stephanie Dolehide’s older sister, Courtney, won back-to-back state doubles titles in 2006-07 with partner Nida Hamilton. Dolehide siblings — tennis players Stephanie and Courtney, and golfer Brian Dolehide — have combined to win nine state championships at Hinsdale Central.
State notes
*Hinsdale Central clinched its 16th state title by Friday’s second round. The Red Devils won their eighth championship in 10 years and third in a row. Their 50 points tied their state tournament record set in 2007 under former coach Jerilyn Scardina.
*Dolehide and Keta’s title, combined with Isabella Lorenzini’s win at singles, made Hinsdale Central the first school to crown singles and doubles champions in the same year since New Trier in 1981.
*Utah-bound senior Sophia Haleas went 4-2 at singles, losing to New Trier’s Cammy Frei 6-1, 6-0, in the sixth round of the consolation bracket. “That was a valuable six points she scored for us,” Radecki said.
Twitter @geomwilcox