Here are the 13 Peoria-area players headed to the IHSA girls tennis state finals
PEORIA — Dunlap won a sectional championship, while Richwoods' decorated doubles tandem will be back for another run at a state title as the Illinois High School Association state finals girls tennis field started taking shape over the weekend.
The Peoria area saw five singles players and four doubles teams advance from sectional play.
At Galesburg
Dunlap won the Class 1A Galesburg Sectional in a runaway, piling up 34 points and more than doubling up runner-up Geneseo on the way to its fifth sectional championship in six years.
More: Here are 9 Peoria-area high school girls tennis players to know for the 2023 season
Dunlap senior Shikha Agarwal won the singles title with a 6-1, 6-2 win over teammate Maya Baman. Both advance to the state finals, which open Thursday and run through Saturday at Buffalo Grove High School and surrounding Chicago-area courts.
The Eagles qualified two doubles tandems in a 1-2 finish as Sophie Muir and Alassea Michel beat teammates Emily Klemens and Isabella Gusso, 6-4, 6-4 in the Galesburg Sectional title match.
At Richwoods
Richwoods junior Theresa Bartelme finished fourth in singles play of the Class 2A Richwoods Sectional, where the Knights were also fourth in the team standings.
The Knights doubles tandem of senior Julia Wojtowicz and junior Olivia Reynolds was runner-up in the title match to Normal Community's Kruthi Sudhir and Anna Mayes. The Richwoods duo will head back to state, where their third-place finish last season made them the first girls tandem from the Peoria area in 30 years to finish that high.
More: 100 wins, helicopters and New York: The unique journey of a Richwoods tennis ace
At Morton
In the Morton Sectional, Metamora doubles tandem seniors Brianna Bessert and Emma Hernandez advanced to state with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Normal U-High's Haley Martin and Emma Eovaldi.
Metamora sophomore Lexi Burton was runner-up in the singles bracket, while Morton freshman Chloe Kendall was fourth.
Metamora was edged out by Normal U-High for the team title by one point.
At LaSalle-Peru
Results at the LaSalle-Peru Sectional were incomplete, as weather forced a stoppage in play after three rounds. Sectional semifinals and championships in singles and doubles will be contested Monday.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria-area players headed to the IHSA girls tennis state finals
