The 7 Springfield-area players to watch at the IHSA girls tennis state finals
![Glenwood’s Amber Ehrlich and Simmi Mander take the court for doubles play during the Girls CS8 Tennis Tournament at Washington Park in Springfield, Ill., Friday, October 8, 2021. [Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/4LnqEvO0C9sBnZwNrig6bw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04ODM-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-state-journal-register/328fd938586de49f868bec174d842475)
Amber Ehrlich and Simmi Mander have worked all season for this moment.
The Chatham Glenwood doubles team earned a 5-8 seed at the Illinois High School Association Class 1A girls tennis state finals that will be held in the Chicago suburbs starting Thursday and concluding on Saturday.
Along with Ehrlich and Mander, Glenwood sent a second doubles team and a singles player to state. Rochester also sent one singles player and Springfield High returns its top singles player to state in Class 2A.
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Here are the seven players from the Springfield area to watch at this season’s tournament:
Amber Ehrlich and Simmi Mander, Chatham Glenwood
The senior-junior combination advanced to state for the second straight season after repeating as Class 1A sectional champs at Reservoir Park in Quincy on Saturday.
Ehrlich and Mander’s sectional championship was an impressive run as the pair lost just three games in four matches.
They enter the 2022 state tournament with one loss and will face unseeded Savannah Amatyleon and Emily Young of Mahomet-Seymour at Schaumburg High School in the first round.
As a 9-16 seed last season, Ehrlich and Mander won two matches in the championship draw and finished state with a 2-2 record.
Elise DeStasio and Julia Kagan, Chatham Glenwood
The doubles duo didn’t come on strong until late in the regular season and finished third at the Central State Eight Conference tournament.
As the fourth seed, the momentum carried them into the Quincy Notre Dame Sectional where they upset the second seed from Jerseyville and got to the title match before losing to teammates Ehrlich and Mander in straight sets.
The junior DeStasio and senior Kagan will make their first state appearance as an unseeded doubles team. They will play unseeded McKinley Saffel and Caty Burton of Troy Triad in a first-round match at Palatine High School.
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Nischi Korrapati, Springfield High
The CS8 conference singles champion got to her second straight Class 2A state tournament with a fourth-place finish at the Edwardsville Sectional.
Korrapati finished 0-2 at state in 2021 and said she wants to reverse that appearance with some victories this time around. Korrapati’s other tournament title this season came at the Springfield High Invitational on Aug. 27 when she won the No. 1 singles draw.
She is unseeded and faces unseeded Amy Park of Rockford Auburn in the first round at Barrington High School.
![Rochester’s Julia Musgrave hits a serve in doubles play during the Girls CS8 Tennis Tournament at Washington Park in Springfield, Ill., Friday, October 8, 2021. [Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ggMigpkqmAjdqY654WCYiw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTEzNDQ-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-state-journal-register/ff01bf6c226f1167afc219e356dca5f9)
Julia Musgrave, Rochester
It’s Musgrave’s second appearance at the Class 1A tournament, but it will be a completely different experience from 2021.
As a third seed, she reached the sectional championship match and lost to Glenwood’s Samantha Shankland 6-1, 6-3 in the final. The unseeded Musgrave has been Rochester’s top singles player all season and starts the tournament with a first-round match against 9-16 seed Shikha Agarwal of Dunlap at Elk Grove High School.
Last season, Musgrave paired with graduate Reagan Martyn and the tandem put together a satisfying doubles run at state by winning a match in the championship bracket and two in the consolation draw to finish with a 3-2 record.
Last year's state finals:How Springfield-area players fared at the IHSA girls tennis state finals
Samantha Shankland, Chatham Glenwood
The sophomore followed up her runner-up finish in the CS8 tournament with a singles championship at the QND Sectional.
It will be her second straight state appearance as an unseeded player and meets unseeded McKenna Snider of Olney Richland County at Rolling Meadows High School in the first round.
Shankland won two matches in the consolation bracket last season, winning both of those matches in a third-set tiebreaker. The victories helped Glenwood place seventh with four other teams in the overall standings.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA girls tennis state finals: Springfield, IL players to watch
