DeKalb High School is the host of the IHSA state badminton meet for a third consecutive season. Heading into the consolation championships, third place matches and state doubles and singles badminton championships, Neuqua Valley is on top of the standings ahead of Stevenson, Fremd and Glenbrook North. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.

Five Naperville area schools finish in the top 15

Naperville Central and Waubonsie Valley both finish in the top 15 overall. Redhawk Zoey Tian finished in the top 12 in singles before being eliminated in the consolation quarterfinals while teammate Megan Moreno fell in the third round. Kelly Hu from Naperville North also made the top 12, falling in the consolation quarters. The Huskies finished in a tie for ninth place.

Waubonsie Valley doubles pairing Tisha Dubey and Vaishnavi Cheedepudi performed well, advancing to the championship quarterfinals, eventually finishing in the top 8.

Metea Valley also finished in a tie for ninth place with Pragya Iyer advancing to the fourth round of the consolation bracket while Devangi Kohli and Aditi Singh made the top 12 before falling in the consolation quarterfinals.

Luna Han and Kanyanat Vajworarat get back to the doubles championship match

Neuqua Valley doubles team Luna Han and Kanyanat Vajworarat, the defending state champions advance to the state finals once again after defeating Katie Moy and Nivedya Nair from Stevenson in the semis. The Wildcats face the other Stevenson doubles duo Anvi Harish and Charlotte Richards.

Neuqua teammates Amber Shi and Katherine Ye picked up key points for the Wildcats, advancing to the consolation quarterfinals.

Han and Vajworarat gain the early advantage after a lengthy rally that ends with a smash from Luna Han that splits the Patriots for a point.

Stevenson rallies as Harish and Richards get back to back quick points, eventually winning the opening set 21-16.

The Wildcats trail 17-10 in the second set, but the defending champions are not going down without a fight. Richards has some nice returns on Han smashes and a drop shot, but Vajworarat flips a return back to the right to get the point. Neuqua on an eight-point run to take an 18-17 lead.

Neuqua trails 22-21 facing match point, but once again the Cats battle in an attempt to force a third set. Neither team gives an inch until Han gets a backhand return before lining a shot down for the point as the set is tied 22-22.

Stevenson leads 23-22 with the serve. Harish lobs one to the back. Han is unable to get her return back over and Stevenson wins the doubles championship in two sets. Han and Vajworarat are the runners up.

Carissa Chen wins the singles consolation bracket

In the singles division, former Waubonsie Valley player Carissa Chen is back in the consolation championship playing for IMSA against Yelang Lee from Fremd. Lee wins the first set, ending a point with a powerful smash to force the error.

Chen comes back to win the second set and with match point in set three, Chen drops a perfectly placed return right on the line to win the fifth place medal in three sets. Chen becomes a four-time All-State performer.

The third place match features Adalyn Shum from Stevenson against Sophia Lin from Fremd. Lin gains an early advantage by putting a drop shot just over the net that Shum is unable to dig out. They split the first two sets and head to a set three.

Shum is able to hang on for a 21-16 victory to take the third place medal, helping Stevenson move into second place in the team standings.

It’s an all Neuqua Valley singles championship

In the singles semifinals, Shum fell in three sets to Neuqua Valley freshman Ishi Reddy while Lin was defeated by Neuqua senior Hannah George, meaning it’s an all Wildcat singles state championship match. The semifinal victories guarantees that Neuqua Valley will win the team state championship. The only drama remaining for head coach Nick Benson is seeing which of his players will become the first singles champion in program history.

Hannah George has played in the state championship match before, finishing as the runner up in 2023 and the veteran shows her poise in the first set as well as a mastery of shot placement as the senior wins the first set 21-13.

Trailing 17-14 in the second set, Reddy is not going roll over and hand the title to her teammate. A nice scoop to dig out a smash followed by a line drive that kisses the line for a point. Reddy goes on a 7-1 run to win the second set 21-18.

Set three goes back and forth with the state title on the line, Reddy erases an early deficit once again and remains poised, eventually setting up match point with a 20-19 lead.

Facing elimination, George gives her all, unleashing a series of shots before flipping a return to the right corner and down for the point to tie things up at 20-20.

Ishi Reddy is the first Neuqua Valley singles state champion

After taking a 21-20 lead, George then hits a pair of returns out of bounds as Reddy once again has match point leading 22-21. This time, George leaves her backhand a little short as it finds the net. Freshman Ishi Reddy is the 2025 state singles champion, the first for the Neuqua Valley program. Hannah George wins her fourth state medal and helps Neuqua Valley to the third team state championship in school history. Fremd wins the third place trophy with Stevenson in second by just a half point.

It’s the first state championship for Neuqua Valley badminton since the Wildcats won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016, when Coach Benson’s wife, Marie Valente, was the head coach of the program.

Sandwich baseball made it a perfect 10 with their 10th win in a row after they blanked Rockland 8-0 on Monday.

Joe Coughlan scattered three hits over seven innings to go with six strikeouts. Coughlan, Drew Peters, Ty Creighton and Luke Morrison(three stolen bases) each had two hits.

Peters, Matt Taylor, Braylon Heatley and Tyler Jones had a RBI each.

In other high school sports action:

Baseball 

Upper Cape 11, Norfolk Aggie 0 (5 inn.): The Rams (13-4) are straight back into the win column behind Matt Ansell, who pitched four shutout innings and allowed just one hit, while striking out three batters. Brady Sprague pitched a scoreless fifth inning with one strikeout. Logan Ewell, Matt Niemiec, Mitchell Kirkland, Robert Stacy and Jake Ewing each had RBI hits to lead the offense.

Carver 13, Mashpee 0: The Falcons (7-12) lost their fourth game in their last five outings.

Softball

New Bedford 5, Falmouth 1: The Clippers (9-8) saw their three-game win streak come to an end in a non-league matchup. Tenley Briggs hit a triple and scored a run, while Kaylee Shaw and Azaria Viall both had a hit.

Monomoy 16, Sturgis 4: In a battle of two of the top teams on the Cape and Islands, the undefeated Sharks (17-0) topped the Storm (11-5).

Ryley Mayo hit triples and scored a run, while Aubrey Flynn added two doubles and scored a run in the loss. Cassidy Conway had a hit and scored a run. Kaylee Koch scored a run.

Sandwich 1, Rockland 0: Sophia Farrington struck out 15 batters, while Capri Barber supplied all the offense with two doubles and the winning hit. The Blue Knights (11-8) have won four of their last five games.

Nauset 10, Nantucket 9: The Warriors (7-11) halted a four-game slide, while the Whalers (5-11) fell to a second straight defeat.

Old Rochester 11, Bourne 10: The Canlamen (0-17) were beaten in extra innings after coming close to picking up a first win on the season. The Bulldogs took the lead in the top of the seventh inning, but the Canalmen couldn’t respond as they stranded a runner on third base.

Olivia Meda went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Maddie Mello was 2-for-5 with two RBIs in the loss.

Girls Lacrosse

Nauset 22, St. John Paul II 14: Julia Kipperman scored 14 goals and Zoe Labdon added six goals to lift the Warriors (10-5) to a fourth straight victory. Abby Powers and Laurel Ricard each tallied a goal. Norah Swanson (seven saves) and Maeve Kennally (five saves) combined to make 12 stops in goal.

The Lions (10-5), who won five straight games earlier in the season, have been unable to extend a win streak out past two games in two tries since then.

Nantucket 14, Monomoy 6: Mia Beaudette tallied three goals and four assists to lead the Whalers (11-4) to a fourth straight win. Suz Peraner added a hat trick of goals, and Dylan Damian had two goals and an assist. Louisa Beni and Mayson Lower both scored twice, and Carly Ray and Grace Hanlon each scored once. Ella Douglas made seven saves.

The Sharks (11-5) lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Sandwich 18, Abington 2: Abbie Reisig, Anya Kelsch and Kyla Darmon all scored a hat trick for the Blue Knights (12-4), who have won three straight games. Ella Murphy (two goals and one assist) and Maddie Ramsey (one goal and two assists) both had three-point games. Rae Enno and Addie Greene both tallied a goal and an assist. Elisabeth Stutzman, Avery Cobban, Lydia Katzenback and Quinn Anderson all had a goal.

Boys Lacrosse 

St. John Paul II 14, Monomoy 10: The Lions (9-7) have notched back-to-back wins, including victories in their last two meetings with the Sharks (10-6), and clinched a playoff spot in the process.

Tamer Khalil had four goals, and Brodie LaValley added two goals in the loss. Jed Zimmerman played well defensively.

Abington 10, Sandwich 9 (OT): Cole Rodgers led the way with three goals and an assist, and Nick Pearce added a hat trick for the Blue Knights (8-8), who haven’t won back-to-back games since their four game win streak ended at the end of April. Reece MacKinnon dominated on faceoffs and tallied two goals and two assists. Tommy Sutton added a goal. Than Hunt made 12 saves.

Girls Tennis

Sandwich 5, Rockland 0: The Blue Knights (8-9) notched their second straight win and a fourth via sweep this season.

Abby Binienda (first singles), Senja Kravitz (second singles),Tenley Rothera (third singles), Sadie Clarkin and Casey Pestilli (first doubles) and Izzie Bar and Lauren Meyer (second doubles) all won in straight sets.

Bourne 4, Fairhaven 1: The Canalmen (7-10) picked up a third win in their last five matches.

McKinley Wenzel defeated Mikayla Smith in first singles (6-4, 6-2), Ainsley Hopwood defeated EMily Giammalvo in second singles, Zoe Noonan defeated Madeline Gamelin in third singles (6-3, 7-5). Lily Russell and Sofia Halunen defeated Hazel Hochella and Emma Cabral in first doubles (6-0, 6-3).

Monomoy 5, Wareham 0; Monomoy 5, Wareham 0: The Sharks (14-4) swept two super sets to close out their regular season schedule.

Hanadi Rezk defeated Evelyn Francis in first singles (8-3, 8-1), dropping just three games across both matches. Ella Cutter defeated Nevaeh Smith in second singles (8-0, 8-1), where she lost just one game. Darcy Addison defeated Lan Tran in third singles (8-1, 8-4)

In the first match, Karina Khalsa and Madison Mahfouz defeated Riley Florindo and Juliana Statisus in first doubles (8-4), while Alexa Babaes-Deel and Olivia Rezk defeated Yvonne Pina-Monteiro and Julianna Frye in second doubles (8-4).

In the second match, Karina Khalsa and Cecelia Hand defeated Riley Florindo and Juliana Statisus in first doubles (8-2), and Madison Mahfouz and Lauren Da Selva defeated Yvonne Pina-Monteiro and Julianna Frye in second doubles (8-1).

St. John Paul II 3, Martha’s Vineyard 2: The Lions (19-1) handed the Vineyarders (13-1) their first loss of the season, extending their own win streak out to 19 games in the process.

Lily Walker beat Laina Dubin in first singles (6-1, 6-4), Bella Scioletti beat Charolette Marshard in second singles (6-1, 6-2), and Grace Walker beat Ellie Pennington in third singles (6-1, 6-2).

Leah Thomson and Zoe Treitman beat Ava Cai and Kayla Katziff in first doubles (6-3, 6-3), while Joey Duhamel and Emily Desriusseaux beat Ella Moran and Clementine Zeender in second doubles (7-6, 6-7, 10-5) for the Vineyarders.

Boys Tennis 

Cape Cod Academy 4, Falmouth Academy 1: The undefeated Seahawks (16-0) maintained that run with a victory over the Mariners (5-6).

Ben Catalano defeated Fletchers Parsons in first singles (6-0, 6-2), Ayden Naydenov defeated Luke Okoshi Michel in second singles (6-3, 6-4), and Declan Livingston defeated Genie Chang in third singles (6-4, 7-5). Connor Hall and Garrett Wilson defeated Nait Gartner and Matt Kellogg in first doubles. (6-3, 6-4)

Erik Gulmann and Ezra Ackerman defeated Henry Daigle and Rowan Lewison in second doubles (7-6(5), 6-2) for the Mariners’ only win.

Momomoy 5, Wareham 0: The Sharks (15-3) capped off the regular season with a fourth straight victory.

Ryan Casey defeated Landon Stewart in first singles (6-0, 6-0), Zach Shields defeated Tomas doCanto in second singles (6-4, 6-1), and Ethan Seufert defeated KJ Bonner in third singles (6-0, 6-2).

Tom Hereford and Blake Noonan defeated Brett Brophy/Ajani Bunting in first doubles (6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3)), and Patrick McMahon and Nick Hadden defeated Matt Gordan/Mena Anwar in second doubles (6-3, 7-6 (8-6)).

Dennis-Yarmouth 4, St. John Paul II 1: The Dolphins stopped a three-match slide with a win over the winless Lions (0-15).

Collin Caron defeated Zach Jones in first singles (6-1, 6-0), Michael O’Reilly defeated Will Sutton in second singles (6-0, 6-1) and, in his first win as a singles player, Ryan Clarke defeated Alden Kreij in third singles (6-2, 6-0). Ben Soltis and Matt Anderson came out ahead versus Brian Cannon and Leon Kamberi in second doubles (6-1, 6-2).

The Lions had a dramatic come from behind victory in first doubles as Micheal Maynard and Ben Kowal outlasted Aidan Karras and Landon Richter in three sets (4-6, 6-1, 11-9).

Outdoor Track and Field

Girls Outdoor Track and Field

Mass State Track Coaches Association Division 5 Relays: The Dolphins, who scored in 15 out of 16 events for a total of 66 points, placed second overall out of 32 teams behind only the hosts, North Reading.

Ava Kivetok, Irleynn Shenk and Niamh Ryan combined for a discus throw of 264-feet-eight-inches to place first. The 4x100m relay team of Kerri Clark, Tiana Jacques, Kirsten Theloma and Breanna Braham ran 50.07, which came in first.

Braham then ran the anchor for Clark, Siena Lauze and Elise Brown in the 4x400m with a season best of 4:13.29 that was good for second place.

Vivian Castano, Niamh Ryan and Cami DePuy placed second in the shot put relay with a distance of 86-feet-and-eight inches.

Castano, Lauze and Patsy Newell placed third in the javelin (240’1″), while Kirsten Theloma, Leah Cogn. Katie Popovich and Helosia Ghiraldini finished third in the shuttle hurdles in a time of 113.66.

Olivia Pendleton, Elise Brown, Bella Alexander and Patsy Newell placed third in the 4x1600m in a time of 24:10.64. 

Allen Gunn covers high school sports for the Cape Cod Times. You can contact him at agunn@gannett.com and follow him on X at @allentgunn.

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Posted

Monday,
May 19, 2025
2:49 pm

Posted

Monday,
May 19, 2025
1:59 pm