Midtown-Palatine NCW4.5 Green Champions; Standing L-R Leslie Modelski, Sandy Clarke, Allison Biergans, Anne Collins, Rose Alberts, Coach Todd Johnson, Becky Vallorano, Linda Zucco, Shelley Szela, Rosy Hugener; Seated – Eileen Felicelli, Dayna Imhoff (captain), Suzanne Rich, Tomoko Sekigami, Kristen Bouchard

LINC NCW 4.5 Green Runner-up

The road to the finals can sometimes have some interesting twists.  A loss may turn out to be a win if the right people are not in place.  Lincolnshire didn’t think they were in the finals but an oversight by North Shore made it possible for Lincolnshire to snag a spot in the finals.  Midtown-Palatine didn’t have an easy time getting into the finals over RC Lake Bluff but they managed to get 2 more sets over RCLB in the playoffs.  So both teams were happy to make it to Glenbrook Racquet Club who hosted the NCW 4.5 Green finals.  On court 1, LINC’s Ann Schueneman and Vicki Caputo had a tight match against MTP’s Rosy Hugener and Dayna Imhoff coming out tough mentally to win the 2nd set tie-breaker 7-6 (3) after losing the 1st set 5-7 and then winning the 3rd set 6-2.  On court 2 MTP’s Suzanne Rich and Sandy Clarke came away with a 2 set win over LINC’s Leslie Isaacson and Cena Glaser 6-3, 6-4.  On court 3 MTP’s Kristen Bouchard and Allison Biergans won in 2 sets against LINC’s Daun Blain and Barb Haseman.  Skipping court 4 for now, on court 5, MTP’s Becky Vallorano and Rose Alberts played it tough against LINC’s Mary Matthews and Lisa Greene 6-3, 6-0.  On court 6, LINC’s Connie Simpson and Gloria Omohundro squeaked out a win against MTP’s Leslie Modelski and Tomoko Sekigami 7-5, 6-4.  At this point, all the matches except court 4 were done.  Lincolnshire had 2 wins but one of those wins was a 3 set win.  Midtown-Palatine had 3 wins.  All were 2 set wins.  On court 4, MTP’s Eileen Felicelli and Shelley Szela were getting into their 3rd set against LINC’s Missy Frank and Astrid Herod.  The 1st set went to LINC 6-2.  The 2nd set went to MTP in a tie-breaker 7-6(5).  The 3rd set was close with MTP up 3-2 but since the NCW4.5 Red finals was scheduled for 12pm and since there were no issues worth protesting over, the match was forfeited to Midtown-Palatine.  Midtown-Palatine won 4-2 over Lincolnshire.  (Not picutred above:  Janice Ali, Donna Beechick, Kathey Bushnick, Kim Gallo, Nedra Harris, Donna Johnson, Van Ann Kim, Cassie Miller, Leslie Pontello, Madelon Queenan, Jodie Shield)