For the third straight year, three of the four WIAA girls state individual tennis titles belong to the players from the Milwaukee area.
MADISON — For the third straight postseason, 75% of the WIAA girls individual state tennis titles belong to players from the Milwaukee area. Both Division 1 championships were captured by area programs, while a junior in Division 2 finally broke through in her third straight state trip.
Brookfield East ace Caroline Raster followed up back-to-back fifth-place singles finishes and a team state title last season with her first state individual title during one of the toughest days of her career, while Divine Savior Holy Angels' top duo of Lizzie and Amelia Stuckslager won their first state title as a pair in dominating fashion Oct. 18 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
In Division 2, St. Joan Antida/Chesterton Academy's Susanna Hundt overcame a 4-6 opening set loss to Lourdes Academy's Sasha Quandt to sweep the final two sets, including a 10-8 tiebreaker in the final set. That added winners medal to her collection of state medals with one season left.
Brookfield East's Caroline Raster survives back-to-back third-set tiebreaks to win first state singles title
There was none of her mom's spaghtti on Caroline Raster's uniform, but her knees (and legs) were weak and the arms probably felt as heavy as they've ever felt in her life.
The top-seeded senior perservered through two of the toughest matches to date. She survived the thrilling morning semifinal session against University School's Angela Wang after losing the opening set 6-7 (5) and then squeaked into the final with an 11-9 tiebreak victory in the third set.
The outlook looked great after a 6-3 win in the opening set of the title match with 2024 D1 state runner-up McKenna Thorson from Verona, but Raster found herself going in the wrong direction with a 1-5 deficit in the second. Despite the four-game hole, Raster felt better about her chances in the tiebreak after trimming the deficit down to 4-5 with a nice rally.
"I always play the second set. If it's, 'I win the first set and I'm down the second set,' I play as if it's kinda like a tiebreak," Raster said. "So, I know the strategy going into the tiebreak. I started trying to stay in the point longer and kind of pushing her back and I thought, 'Oh, this is gonna work.'"
Raster again fell behind 0-4 in the tiebreak, but roared back to the next five points before the two were in a dead heat to the finish with all eyes on Court 5. After a beating cross-court winner to go up 10-9, Raster survived the final point and had to double check herself to make sure she was officially a state champion with a 24-0 record.
"I am so exhausted," Raster said with a smile. "I was even exahusted between the changeovers. It felt like he'd call a timeout after two seconds. I'd sit down, take a breath and I'd be right up and ready to go again, but my legs are definitely shaky."
DSHA's dominant Stuckslager sisters roll to Division 1 state doubles title
Winning a state title isn't a new experience for Lizzie Stuckslager. She captured back-to-back doubles championships as a sophomore with Molly Jex. But her last high school match resulted in winning a state title with younger sister Amelia, and that was a unique and special experience.
The Dasher duo dominated the defending state champion pairing of Sarah Neubert and Isabella Heidenberger from Arrowhead 6-1, 6-0 in the final. The Stuckslagers dropped just eight games in their final three matches to finish 16-0.
"It's really nice to do this again, especially since I'm with my sister," Lizzie said.
"Really good, surprisingly," Amelia added with a laugh, speaking of the dynamic of playing with her older sister.
It was an easy decision for coach Melissa Gebhardt to put the sisters together. Lizzie had success as a junior, qualifying for the D1 singles tournament as a seeded player, while Amelia finished as a state runner-up to Neubert and Heidenberger in lthe doubles final.
"I was just really, really, really proud of them. They were just locked in this entire tournament," Gebhardt said. "It's just so fun to create a memory that they're going to have for the rest of their lives. ... I am so blessed and lucky to not have just wonderful, talented tennis players, but they're just fabulous young women and they are such good examples to everybody else on the team. I'm so lucky to have them."
Third team is the charm for St. Joan Antida/Chesterton Academy junior Susanna Hundt
After finishes of sixth and third in during her first two trips to state, Susanna Hundt entered her third D2 singles tournament undefeated and the bracket's prohibitive favorite. The top seed earned her first title in dramatic fashion to finish 30-0, but Sasha Quandt from Loudres Academy, who also entered unbeaten, didn't make it easy.
Quandt took the opening set 6-4, but Hundt clawed her way back and steamrolled to a 6-0 victory in the second set to force a tiebreak for the title. Both players fought to survive long rallies, culminating with Hundt hanging on for a 10-8 victory in what felt like two matches in one for the junior.
"The tiebreak was basically ... whoever missed first and I ended up missing the least," Hundt said with a smile.
"I think that was partly how I could get through that tiebreak," she added on being able to step on the top step of the podium for the first time.
Hundt's coach Jeff Mrochinski gave credit to Hundt not only for her perserverance but the sacrifices she has made throughout this season with a program that is continuing to build depth and stability.
"What's been amazing with Susanna is most practices, she's feeding balls, giving instruction to our other kids," Mrochinski said. "The fact that she's so giving in that way to the rest of the team and still able to come out and perform like that, that's just been wonderful. It makes it all worth it."
For Hundt, the day brought a massive sigh of relief, some curiosity about potentially playing doubles next season and a craving for a celebratory meal on the way home from Madison.
"Sushi? Can we get sushi," Hundt asked with a smile to her support group standing nearby. "If my coach and elders allow it, I kind of want to play doubles. We'll see. I don't know yet. It's very far in the future, and right now I'm kind of good with tennis."
Other top notable finishers
- University School of Milwaukee's Angela Wang capped a great prep career with a fourth-place finish in D1 singles, her fourth time on the podium, including a D2 state singles title in 2023. Brookfield East freshman Natalia Martinez finished fifth in her first state appearance and Arrowhead's Emily Muresan took the sixth-place medal. After winning the Division 1 state singles title in 2024, Whitefish Bay's Clare Schaefer partnered with Charlotte Jelenchick to finish fourth in the D1 state doubles bracket.
- In Division 2, Shorewood's Misa Herriges won a tough 6-0, 5-7, 10-7 third-place match over Big Foot's Annabelle Parker. Herriges will lead the Greyhounds into the state team tournament for the first time in program history in a week. New Berlin West's Caroline Georvac also finished fifth to take another podium place in her career.
- In D2 doubles, St. Thomas More's Grace and Hope Saller finished third with a 6-3, 7-6 (7) victory over Edgewood's Katie Kohls and Olivia Johnson. Kenosha St. Joseph's top duo of Ava Miller and Parker Van Dusen took home the runner-up medals after defeating the Sallers in the semifinals.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brookfield East, DSHA, Chesterton players win WIAA girls tennis titles
Category: General Sports
