HH_032218

46 | March 22, 2018 | The Homer Horizon SPORTS
homerhorizon.com
Porters showcase experience against Indians
Lemont overpowered
in program’s first
match at Lockport
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
The Lockport Township
badminton team first played
a match in the 1970s. The
Lemont badminton team
first played a match last
week against Lockport.
The Porters have a rich
heritage of badminton play,
so that helped Lemont
choose to have them in the
history making match that
took place on Thursday,
March 15, in the field house
at Lockport.
There, the result was predicable,
as the Porters won
all the matches in straight
sets for a 15-0 victory. But
the Indians were happy to
launch their program against
Lockport.
“My sister, Lanette Calhoun,
coaches the freshman
team at Lockport,” Lemont
coach Olivia Mattingly
said. “So she opened the
door for us to come here and
play someone outside of our
[Southwest Prairie] conference.
I know our kids were
nervous and didn’t know
what to expect. But this is
one down and a lot more to
go.”
Mattingly, who is a 2009
graduate of Hinsdale South
and went to state twice while
playing there, is assisted by
Eve Winiarski. She was excited
that the Indians got the
opportunity to open against
Lockport.
“I’m pretty happy to open
here,” Mattingly said. “It’s
great to play a program like
Lockport that is this good
and with this much experience.
This will show us how
hard we have to work.”
Since none of the Lemont
Sawyer Hollatz winds up for a hit Thursday, March 15, during a match against Lemont in
Lockport. Photos by Julie McMann/22nd Century Media
players had any match experience
against another team,
at least not in high school,
the scores weren’t close. The
Porters have plenty of young
talent, and it showed last
Thursday.
In doubles, juniors Abbey
Burke and Dana Westberg
defeated junior Karla
Pulido and Yosef Abustan
21-12, 21-10 in the top doubles
match. The rest of the
scores were similar. At No. 2
doubles, it was juniors Tess
Peckman and Felicita Espada
over senior Emma Bozue
and junior Marta Mendaluk.
Third doubles was sophomore
Sawyer Hollatz and
senior Caitlyn Krueger over
senior Ellie Abboud and junior
Bridget Hodurek. They
were followed by juniors
Megan Schmutzler and
Kiera Mackin over senior
Amanda Baltierres and junior
Bianca Pontrelli, and
in No. 5 doubles, it was senior
Cristina Markham and
junior Leigh Beland over
seniors Sarah Trejo and Andrea
Papiernik.
Krueger plays third doubles
and third singles for the
Porters.
“I’ve enjoyed playing with
Sawyer and getting to know
her in doubles,” Krueger
said. “But I’d like to move
up in singles to the Top 2.
That would mean that I’d
have a chance to go to state
in singles senior year.”
Hollatz is No. 1 in singles
and had a 21-4, 21-13 win
over Pulido at that position.
At No. 2 singles, it was senior
Kamile Sulkson over
Mendaluk, and that was followed
by Krueger defeating
Hodurek. At fourth singles,
it was sophomore Sam Keta
over Abboud, and Burke
beat Bozue at fifth singles.
Schmutzler defeated
Abustan at No. 6 singles,
Espada won over Baltierres
at No. 7, followed by Westberg
winning over junior
Natalie Lassak in eighth singles.
Mackin defeated junior
Neha Kapur in ninth singles,
and Beland rounded it out
with a win over Trejo at 10th
singles.
Markham, who first started
playing badminton in
high school, also played in
an exhibition single match.
She is one of only four seniors
on the squad and loves
spending time with the team.
“I hope to move up in the
lineup, but I like to be with
my friends,” Markham said.
“We work hard and laugh a
lot.”
A change this season for
the Porters is they have a
new assistant coach. Standing
at 6-foot-9, John Ford is
hard to miss. But Ford, who
played basketball for Joliet
Township in the mid-1990s,
is no stranger to Lockport
athletics. He’s been an assistant
coach on the girls
basketball team for the past
three seasons. He, however,
never coached badminton
until now.
“It’s a unique opportunity,”
said Ford, who replaced
Haley Egelhof as
assistant this season. “I like
challenges, and I’m learning
something every day. It’s
not a sport that I’ve known a
Sam Keta focuses on the birdie during a match.
lot about, but the girls have
been great.”
The Porters opened the
season two days earlier, on
March 13, with a quad meet
at Hinsdale Central. There,
Lockport lost 5-3 to Lyons
Township and 5-3 to the
host Red Devils but defeated
Wheaton Warrenville South
7-1.
“In the opener, we did really
well,” Lockport secondyear
coach Stacy Sparlin
said of the opening quad
meet at Hinsdale Central.
“We got off to a rough start
there last year, and those are
some tough schools.
“Our juniors won the conference
as sophomores last
year, and we have a lot of
them up. Plus, two sophomores.
I’m really looking
forward to this season. I really
like the personalities of
the group. Just the way they
compete hard and want to
work. It’s a fun group, and
I’m excited.”
Lockport closed last week
with a trip on Saturday, March
17, to the Downers Grove
North Invite. This week
brought a nonconference
meet on Tuesday, March 20,
at Argo, and then a South-
West Suburban Conference
on Thursday, March 22, at
Lincoln-Way Central. This
Saturday, March 24, the Porters
host a quad starting at 9
a.m. with Andrew, Naperville
Central and St. Charles North.