Doubles duo leads netters into battle

HUNTLEY — Huntley girls tennis coach Barry Wells is optimistic that the Red Raiders will be able to continue their dominance of the Fox Valley Conference and advance far in the post-season.

“This should be one of the best teams we have had at Huntley,” Wells  said. “Hopefully we can continue our FVC championship streak and have more success in the post season. We have a very good and deep team.”

The Red Raiders won the Fox Valley Conference tournament for the fourth straight year last season and were 15-2 record. Some strengths of the squad, which returns nine of 11 players from last year:

The HHS doubles team of seniors Kate Burkey and Carlie Weishaar played No. 1 doubles last season and finished 29-6. They won the FVC tournament, finished second at the Cary-Grove sectional and advanced to the state tournament, where they were 1-2.

Sophomore Gia Patel posted a school-record 31-2 singles record. She took the FVC title at No. 2 singles and then lost at the state qualifying match at sectional.

Junior Julie Klockner and senior Ari Patel won the FVC title at No. 2 doubles but did not advance to state.

Also returning is singles player Ella Doughty, a junior who was runner-up at FVC No. 1 singles at the league tournament.

Sophomore Haley Rahman will be an athlete to watch in two sports at Huntley this fall. She will compete for the tennis and cross country teams.

“Rahman is a sophomore who was one of the top cross country runners in the area last year. Integrating Rahman into our lineup and figuring out how to balance her time with cross country will be very important to the team’s success,” Wells said.

The Red Raiders will be replacing some talented players from last season.

“We lost half of our third doubles and half of our fourth doubles teams,” Wells said.

Cary-Grove gave the Red Raiders the best challenge in the league last year, but have had a senior-dominated team last season.