Indians Fall To Sister Act In State Finals
INDIANAPOLIS – It took an incredible Sister Act to finally put an end to an incredible postseason run Saturday by the South Bend St. Joseph’s girls tennis team.
The No. 4 ranked Indians, who beat Warsaw 5-0 last Saturday in the Culver Academies Semistate, fell 3-2 to No. 3 Indianapolis Cathedral in the state championship match.
The Irish rolled to straight set wins at all three singles spots, with victories by the Koscielski sisters, to top the Indians. The title match, as well as the two semifinal matches earlier in the day, had to be moved indoors due to rain.
Cathedral, which beat St. Joe 3-2 in a match in Indianapolis on May 7, got wins from sophomore Maeve Koscielski at No. 1 singles, her senior sister Grace at No. 2 singles and freshman Claire at No. 3 singles. Maeve won 6-0, 6-0, while Grace posted a 6-3, 6-0 win and Claire prevailed 6-2, 6-2. Maeve and Claire are each now 28-0 on the season, while Grace finished at 27-0.
St. Joe won both doubles matches as Talle Corrigan and Ceci Pekarek won 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1 and Mary Lyon and Nicole Pascual won 6-0, 6-4 at No. 2.
The Koscielski sisters come from great bloodlines. Father Paul was a three-time singles state champion for South Bend Adams in 1983, 93 and 84. Mother Amy (Boyle) was a member of Cathedral’s state championship team in 1986.
Cathedral beat Terre Haute South 3-2 in the semifinals Saturday and topped three-time defending state champion Carmel 3-2 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
St. Joe, which had four seniors in its lineup, beat Jasper 4-1 in the semifinals Saturday. The Indians beat Center Grove 3-2 Friday in the quarterfinals with wins by sophomore Maddie Yergler at No. 1 singles and Maria Anthony at No. 3 singles. The team of Corrigan and Pekarek rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the second set, after losing the first 6-0, to win in three sets 0-6, 7-5, 6-4 to earn the Indians the victory.
Cathedral finishes its season 21-1, while St. Joe wraps up at 19-3.