Oak Park’s Samantha Schafer heading back to state

Updated: October 18, 2011 7:04PM

Samantha Schafer faced a familiar foe in the singles final Saturday at the Oak Park-River Forest Sectional.

For the second consecutive year, Schafer lost to Lincoln Park senior Sara Kohtz in the final. Kohtz won 6-3, 6-2 over Schafer, an OPRF junior.

But reaching the semifinals was all Schafer needed to make back-to-back trips to the state meet, which begins Thursday in the Northwest suburbs. Schafer went 3-2 in last year’s state meet, but is looking to make a longer appearance this season after finishing third in the West Suburban Silver meet Oct. 8.

“I feel good the way I played Saturday,” Schafer said. “Even though I didn’t win, it’s a good start for state. I definitely feel like I’ve improved over the year. It will still be a tough state meet. I’m hoping for the best.”

OPRF coach Fred Galluzzo is on the IHSA seeding committee for the state meet. Schafer has one immediate goal after the brackets are released, win in the first round. Players and coaches typically believe that playing well on the first day could determine how you perform the rest of the tournament.

Schafer lost in the first round last season to Glenbrook South’s Caroline Ryba, 6-2, 6-2, and then had to come back through the consolation rounds to have a successful state debut.

“If I can win in the first round, I would play only three matches Thursday. I do not want to play four matches,” Schafer said. “That’s a long day.”

OPRF (29 points) qualified all of its competitors for the state meet while winning its eighth consecutive sectional title and 18th overall title. Runner-up Young scored 17 points.

OPRF freshman Taylor Arends will make her state meet debut after beating Lincoln Park’s Diana Torres 6-1, 6-0 for third at the sectional.

Both doubles teams lost to Young, but will advance. The No. 1 doubles team of senior Emma Forman and sophomore Tess Trinka will each make repeat appearances at state although Trinka was a singles player last season. Forman went 1-2 at state doubles last season with graduate Ann Ryan.

Forman and Trinka were coming off a runner-up finish at the conference meet.

Young’s Kate Ushekova and Syedah Cabel beat Forman and Trinka 6-0, 6-3 in the sectional championship. Young’s Natalie Whelan and Kendall Scruggs won 6-2, 6-1 over OPRF’s Hannah Meyer and Allison Zelby for third place.

Meyer and Zelby are seniors and also make their state meet debut. The Huskies have representatives from all four academic classes at the state meet.

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