There certainly is no place like home for Lincoln-Way Central junior Kara Rimkunas.
The courts at Andrew, however, have provided a wealth of fond memories for the Knights’ No. 1 singles player.
“My freshman year I qualified for state here and I won conference here,” Rimkunas said. “I love playing at these courts.”
On top of that, her dad, Vince, was a four-year varsity player at Andrew. He was a state qualifier as a senior.
“Yeah, that’s pretty special,” Rimkunas said with a smile. “It definitely is cool playing here, knowing that my dad played here.”
Rimkunas had a strong showing Monday at Andrew, defeating sophomore Jordan Ostrander 6-0, 6-1.
This is Rimkunas’ first season at singles. During her freshman and sophomore years at Lincoln-Way Central, Kara and her sister Emma were doubles partners. They advanced to state and won their opening matches both seasons.
“It was very fun,” Rimkunas said. “At times, we’d get on each other’s nerves. But overall, it was a lot of fun. We were really close.”
Emma is attending Iowa, but she’s not playing tennis. Kara, who competes as a singles player in USTA matches, embraced the opportunity to go solo.
“I was definitely excited,” she said. “But I was also nervous, not having someone else on the court. Emma was older than me, so she knew what she was doing more. It’s definitely different.”
Rimkunas’ biggest win was a three-set match against Homewood-Flossmoor senior Lauren Legardy.
“She is a really good player,” Rimkunas said. “That was a really long match. After I lost the first set I was like, ‘You have to win this. It’s very important for sectional seeding.’ I pulled through the second set and the third set it got even closer.”
Rimkunas prevailed 7-5 in the third set.
“Most of the games in that set went to deuce,” Rimkunas said. “It was a great match.”
Lincoln-Way Central coach Eric Balluff loves Rimkunas’ accuracy and the power she puts on her ground strokes. But he mostly appreciates her choices.
“She’s a very smart player,” Balluff said. “She understands when to hit the ball and where to hit the ball.
“A lot of high schools kids don’t understand that aspect of the game. They’re just returning the ball. But she hits with a purpose, and hits to a certain place.”
Back together: Stagg coach John Daniels was pretty down-to-earth in describing his No. 1 doubles team of seniors Emily Garcia and Kamila Wolowiec.
“Two really good kids,” Daniels said. “Your typical Stagg kids. They work really hard. They’re both very good students. They do a really good job of balancing tennis and their grades.”
Together, they have stated a case for their tennis abilities.
As sophomores in 2018, Garcia and Wolowiec qualified for state. Last season, Wolowiec played singles while Garcia remained at doubles with a new partner, Izzy Slezakova.
“A coach’s decision,” Daniels said. “We did challenge matches, and Izzy wound up being top gun in the challenge matches. So I put her with Emily in doubles and I put Kamila in singles.
“I don’t really have regrets because Izzy and Emily came very close to getting to state.”
This season, Slezakova is playing singles, while Garcia and Wolowiec are back together again. Through Wednesday, they were 4-2 with victories over Lincoln-Way Central and Andrew.
“Kamila really worked hard in the offseason,” Daniels said. “She really wants to play in college and she’s really improved. She’s definitely one of our best players.
“They’re much better now than they were two years ago. They’ll be a top 4 seed at our sectional. I could imagine them being a No. 2 seed behind Sandburg.”
Did you know? Homewood-Flossmoor has had the most state medalists among Southland schools. All eight competed between 1989 and 1995.
The Vikings’ best state trip as a team was in 1989, when under Jim Trudeau H-F won the state title by edging out New Trier in points 17.5-15.
That team were led by the doubles tandems of Ngozi Okorafor and Tina Suk, who finished second, and Janet Greer and Shannon Flanagan, who finished third.
