Sports
Oak Lawn Badminton Doubles Team Finishes Season on High Note at State Tourney
Senior Amanda Sweis and junior Ellie LaSpina split four matches and carved out a top-32 finish in the IHSA state badminton tournament. Earlier, the Oak Lawn duo led the Spartans to a third-place finish in sectional competition.
There is a word to describe the run forged by Oak Lawn's badminton doubles team of Amanda Sweis and Ellie LaSpina.
Exciting.
"It was an excting run," Oak Lawn coach Patricia Casey said in a news release after Sweis and LaSpina returned home from the IHSA state tournament with a 2-2 record and top-32 finish.
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Sweis, a senior, and LaSpina, a junior, did it the hard way.
The two dropped a 15-21, 21-16, 21-12 decision to Glenbard East's Stacy Krebs and Kirsten Sipek in their opening match at the state finals in Charleston. Then, they battled back.
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Sweis and LaSpina defeated Lake Park's Nicole Krumweide and Drishti Patel (21-14, 19-21, 21-13) and York's Kristen Borel and Julia Carlson (21-17, 21-16).
Their run ended with a 15-21, 21-15, 21-19 loss to Barrington's Kathy Ho and SDhariley Ni.
To qualify for the state tournament, Sweis and LaSpina had to survive the cut at the Andrew Sectional. The two placed fourth in doubles and led Oak Lawn to a third-place team finish with 7.5 points.
The Spartans also picked up contributions at the sectional from the doubles team of Tara Hill and Dee Dee Shatat and singles players Rebecca Kampic and Claudia Maka.
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