Trinity's Nunez falls to York's Barry in title match

There isn't much gray area when describing how Amanda Nunez approaches the game of tennis.

The Trinity sophomore is all about hitting the ball low and hard, and placing the rocket shots in the corners.

There's another player, York junior Kelly Barry, who takes the same approach on the court.

The two similar styles clashed on Saturday afternoon in the singles title match at the Proviso West Sectional.

On that particular day, Barry came out on top with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Nunez

"I was happy with the way I played," Nunez said. "She took everything I hit and hit it right back passed me. She was really consistent putting balls in the corner. I hit some winners, but needed to cut down on my errors."

Second place was good enough to advance Nunez to the state tournament, which gets underway on Thursday, for a second-straight year.

"The two girls are very much alike," Trinity coach Mary Anne Lappe said. "Amanda loves to hit the ball hard and deep, and so does Barry. I told Amanda to change her game, but she never was able to do it. I told her to hit some slices down the line and change the pace of the match. None of that happened. Amanda will figure those things out. I thought she played OK even though she lost."

Nunez split her four matches at state last fall.

"I definitely want to do better," Nunez said. "I have to go out there and find my opponent's weakness fast. You can't hold anything back at state."

"It all depends on the draw," Lappe said. "You have to be at the top of your game."

Anna Hall won her first round match 7-5, 6-1 over Allison Korenchan of Walther Lutheran.

The competition was a little stronger in the next round where Hall fell 6-2, 6-1 against Fenton.

Jessica Garner and Colleen Grusecki opened with a straight set win over Leyden before losing 6-0, 6-1 to York's Kathryn Grimmer and Courtney Grob, who went on to finish in second place.

Danielle DuBois and Elizabeth Nelson lost 6-0, 6-0 in the first round to top seeded and sectional champions Liz Budnik and Amanda Budnik of York.

VOLLEYBALL

The Trinity volleyball team finished second on Saturday at the Rosary Tournament, falling to the host school 25-15, 25-23 in the finals.

The Blazers posted their tournament wins over Illinois Math and Science Academy (25-19, 25-15) and Rosary JV (25-18, 25-8).

The top individuals in the tournament for Trinity were Caroline Brander (23 kills, 7 aces, 20 digs, 29 blocks), Amanda Macchione (14 kills), Kelly Purl (6 kills), Ciera Hester-Smith (6 kills), Vivi Castellanos (6 kills, 18 digs), Amanda Iuliano (15 digs), Annie Logisz (13 digs) and Katy Osowiec (33 assists).