PREP ZONE: Geneva’s Tourte, Chlasta make huge jump to state tournament

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Annie Tourte thought she had a good chance to make Geneva’s varsity tennis lineup this season.
Making the IHSA State Tennis Tournament? Not even on Tourte’s radar.

“I wasn’t even thinking about it at all at the beginning of the season,” Tourte said. “I didn’t even know I’d be going to sectionals.”

Tourte and her doubles partner, Claire Chlasta, are arguably the most surprising entrants among the area’s contingent for the state tournament, to take place Thursday through Saturday at northwest suburban sites.

There was little in the pair of juniors’ background that suggested their season would end in glory. Tourte played on the Vikings’ junior varsity team last year while Chlasta played No. 4 doubles.

“This is a big jump for them,” Geneva coach Maureen Weiler said. “They play hard and they play tough. We’re still working on their game but they’ve got some good instincts, and they surprise you, and they surprise their opponents. I think it’s fun. It’s fun to watch them.”

Chlasta and Tourte didn’t start the season as a pair but eventually were grouped together, ascending to the Vikings’ No. 2 doubles spot.

At Saturday’s St. Charles East Sectional, Chlasta and Tourte knocked off teams from St. Charles East and Wheaton Academy to qualify for state before eventually finishing fourth.

Friends, teammates, family and the girls themselves were surprised, if not shocked, about the state berth.

“I think heading into it we both thought it would be really cool if we went but we weren’t expecting to go,” Chlasta said.

Chlasta and Tourte joined Geneva singles standout Kayla Fujimoto as the Vikings’ state qualifiers. In making the state field, the pair leapfrogged Geneva’s No. 1 doubles team, Jamie Potts and Alexa Rogers.

“At the beginning of the season, Potts and Rogers would always beat them extremely easily, and toward the end, it started getting closer and closer,” Weiler said. “Even though Potts and Rogers were a third seed [at sectionals] and Annie and Claire were a sixth seed, just the way it fell, I had an idea Annie and Claire had an easier path to state then Potts and Rogers. Sometimes it’s just the way it falls.”

Chlasta said the celebratory reaction from her teammates, including Potts and Rogers, who charged the court in celebration, made the accomplishment all the more meaningful.

Chlasta and Tourte, who went 16-4 playing together entering sectionals, are likely to face a difficult draw at the state tournament. Pulling a few more surprises would be exhilarating, but the duo knows the odds won’t be in their favor.

“I don’t really know what to expect but I know that we’re not going to be putting a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Chlasta said. “We’ve already exceeded our expectations for the season so we’re going to go in just with a positive mindset and hope to have a lot of fun and let it be a learning experience for us.”

Freshman still going strong: St. Charles North qualified all its sectional entrants for the state tournament, including freshman singles player Brittany Plaszewski.

Plaszewski might be the biggest X-factor among the area’s state participants. She won her first 30 singles matches before absorbing her only singles loss of the season at sectionals to Geneva’s Fujimoto, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5). She ended up finishing third in the sectional.

Plaszewski, though, played No. 2 singles behind teammate Liselot Koenen, meaning she didn’t see some of the elite opponents that will be in store at state. Still, North coach Eve Tubman likes Plaszewski’s chances to add a few more triumphs to her sensational freshman season.

“Her match with Kayla shows she can play with the big girls, too,” Tubman said. “To take her to a tiebreaker, I think that was a big boost for her confidence.”

In addition to 17-32 seed Koenen and unseeded Plaszewski, North sends the doubles teams of Jenna Bell and Alecia Natale and Carly Dutkiewicz and Lauren Drawbridge to the tournament.

• Jay Schwab is sports editor of The Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5382 or jschwab@kcchronicle.com.