Lorenza Simbulan-Foster has certainly climbed the ladder of success in the Upstate Eight Conference in four years.
The Glenbard South senior finished fourth as a freshman and second as a sophomore and junior.
No. 1 seed Simbulan-Foster climbed the ultimate mountain Saturday by capturing the first UEC singles title with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over East Aurora’s Melanie Galindo.
“It’s awesome,” Simbulan-Foster said. “I feel like I’m more consistent and better at the mental part of the game.”
Simbulan-Foster will attempt to make a fourth straight trip to the 1A state tournament next Saturday at Timothy Christian Sectional in Elmhurst.
The Raiders senior hopes to improve on his 9-12 record last season at the state meet.
“Lorenza is a very talented player,” first-year coach Kevin Schillerstrom said. “She has a very strong base game.”
Simbulan-Foster’s efforts helped propel the Raiders to the UEC team title with 78.5 points. West Chicago was second with 57.5 points and Glenbard East was third with 53.5 points.
Augusta Leimonas took third-ranked singles honors, defeating Bartlett’s Suhani Patel 6-2, 6-1.
Top seeds Allie Mizwicki and Emily Puchalski beat sophomore Ashwita Sankar and Sheereena Patel of Bartlett in the title match 6-2, 6-2.
The Glenbard South duo was third in the conference a year ago.
“We work well together,” Mizwicki said. “We got better as the season went on.”
“We hope to make it to the second day of sections,” Puchalski said. “We improved from last season.”
The Raiders swept all four doubles titles with Emily Zeikus-Bekah Brzenski (2), Erika Hartman-Joy Shim (3) and Skylar Fischer-Lexia Hagedorn (4).
“It’s a feather in their cap to win the conference,” Schillerström said. “It’s been a year of transition. That’s three coaches in four years for the seniors. The season starts at Timothy Christian next week.”
Second place West Chicago was led by Julia Koput, No. 2 in singles, and No. 2 in doubles Judith Benitez and Ayellan Vellikans, No. 3 in doubles Derilyn Espinal-Zitary Garcia Medina and No. 4 in doubles. double Ariley Jacobo-Brianna Guerreo who were second.
Elina Velasco finished third at No. 1 singles and Addison Jeffrey and Mairy Jury finished fourth at No. 1 doubles.
Glenbard East was led by No. 2 seed Claire Flanagan, who defeated top-seeded Koput in the title match, 6-4, 6-1.
Ella Book-Kaitlin Murphy finished third at No. 1 in doubles and Helen Jones was fourth at No. 1 in singles. In doubles, No. 2 Alyssa Borbath-Leila Nehra and Lindsey Elias-Milana Szcybura all finished fourth.
Bartlett finished fourth with 44.5 points.
Sankar and Patel finished second at number one in the doubles.
Rohini Silwa and Aanya Navarsiwala finished third in the second doubles and Sabikah Musabji-Dya Chelada finished third in the fourth doubles. Ithea Mistry-Angela Darma finished fourth in third doubles.
Fenton, fifth with 33 points, was led by fourth-ranked Victoria Sosha at third in singles.
