The chant began moments after Evanston senior Anastasia Goncharova fell 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to Glenbard East senior Kolie Allen in the Class AA girls tennis singles state championship match.
“Ana-sta-sia, Ana-sta-sia,” shouted the sizable contingent of Evanston supporters on the hot and windy Saturday afternoon in Buffalo Grove.
Goncharova, runner-up for the second straight season, looked up at the fans and flashed a quick smile.
Goncharova gave Wildkits fans much to cheer about during her two-year varsity career, and her performance against the undefeated Allen was no different.
Playing with a brace on her right knee, which had been surgically repaired in March, and a wrap on her right thigh, the Evanston lefty winced in pain throughout while pushing the powerful and consistent Allen to three sets.
It was Goncharova’s first six-match tournament since returning in early August from surgery.
After the match, Goncharova said her emotions were different in 2017 than they had been a year earlier, when she lost a third-set tiebreaker to Lyons’ Lahari Yelamanchili in the 2016 championship match.
“Last year, it was a heartbreaking match and I was disappointed. But right now, I’m happy,” said Goncharova, who lives in Evanston. “It doesn’t matter that I got second place. To me, (it feels like a win). Having to deal with my whole entire leg being a problem and not playing the whole summer. To me, that was a big win.”
Goncharova said she actually began feeling weak after the first or second match at state on Oct. 19. Admittedly nervous and error prone in the first set of Saturday’s final, Goncharova said she settled down in the second set.
“I relaxed and started going for my shots, figured out what (Allen) didn’t like and started pressing on that. I think it helped me out,” Goncharova said.
But Allen regrouped in the third set and captured the title. Goncharova said she has not beaten Allen in several meetings on the club circuit, but said this was her best performance against a player Evanston coach Joyce Anderson describes as “a force.”
Anderson also spoke about Goncharova’s illustrious two-year career, during which she went 45-6, won two sectional crowns, set a school record for victories in a season (24) and elevated Evanston tennis to heights it has rarely reached.
“At Evanston, (her accomplishments) are Hall of Fame material in my opinion,” said Anderson, in her seventh season as head coach. “It’s been a pleasure coaching her. She’s going to go on to awesome stuff next.”
Evanston (13 points) tied for 10th in the state.
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The Raiders (19 points) won the Class A girls tennis state championship, finishing two points ahead of second-place Glenwood. It was the first girls tennis state title, and third team state title, in school history. The boys golf team won Class 1A titles in 2011 and 2012.
First-year head coach Glenn Golden said he was hardly thinking or talking about state titles when the season began in August.
“I had no expectations about where we were going to finish,” said Golden, who had been a coach in the program for five years prior to taking over. “I said to the kids: ‘Your goal is to get a little better today than you were yesterday, and we’re going to use matches as measuring sticks. At the end of the season, we’ll see where we are.'”
Freshman Claudia Miller, who finished fourth in singles, said it had been the right approach.
“(Winning state) was unexpected,” said Miller, who lives in Glencoe. “We just tried to take it day-by-day and see what happens. I guess it paid off for us.”
Miller defeated Antioch senior Kelsey Neville 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals before falling 6-1, 6-1 to Northside senior Nicole Roc, who went on to capture the title. Miller started strong, but faded in a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 loss to Lakes freshman Megan Heuser in the third-place match.
North Shore senior Cara Savin went 3-2 during the weekend, while the doubles team of Alex Arenson and Caroline Lommer, both juniors, also won three of the five matches they played.
New Trier
The Trevians doubles team of senior Amia Ross and sophomore Ali Benedetto finished third at the Class AA girls tennis state tournament after defeating Hinsdale Central sophomore Sarah Badawi and freshman Kathryn Treiber 6-2, 7-5 in the third-place match.
Ross/Benedetto had been seeded No. 1 entering state, but Ross said she was proud of what the New Trier pair accomplished, which included finishing 18-1.
“When I was a freshman, if you told me I would be the No. 1 seed at state and finish third, I would have sent you to a mental asylum,” said Ross, who lives in Winnetka. “This is further than I could have ever dreamed to come in tennis. Wow, it’s really been a journey and I’m really glad to have finished it here with Ali as a doubles partner, who has been so great all season.”
In Ross/Benedetto’s 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 semifinal loss to Young senior Camryn Salter and sophomore Darinka Stepan an umpire’s scoring error had gone against the New Trier team, according to Trevians coach Jerry Morse-Karzen.
But Morse-Karzen downplayed the mistake and its impact, and instead praised his team for bouncing back from their first defeat.
“To come back and beat a good Hinsdale Central team speaks volumes about their ability to focus and put something behind you and go out and play the match,” Morse-Karzen said. “They ended on a real positive note.”
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The doubles team of senior Maggie Hines and junior Lizzy Witkowski went 4-2 and reached the consolation quarterfinals.
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press