No. 2 singles player Kendall Gallion comes through with big second point and sends Chesterton on way to 4-1 win over sectional host Valparaiso in quarterfinal

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Even with the No. 2 doubles match in the books to the advantage of Chesterton, Trojans tennis coach Tom Bour had that layer of uneasiness that comes with facing an opponent too deep to assume anything as he watched the action unfold Tuesday vs. sectional host Valparaiso.
Watching how locked in No. 2 singles sophomore Kendall Gallion looked in dismantling her opponent eased his coach’s worried mind and the Trojans eventually prevailed by the same margin as in the regular season, 4-1, in a quarterfinal.
As Bour put it, Gallion “picked a great time to play one of her better matches of the season,” and won 6-2, 6-3 for the team’s second point two matches into the night. No. 2 doubles Lizzy Navarro and Morgan Matthys scored the first point, 6-0, 6-1, playing what Bour called, “by far their cleanest match of the year.”
No. 1 doubles team Amelia Smith and Genevieve Driscoll rebounded from a slow start to score the clinching point by the score of 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to improve to 13-1 for the season.
Kenzie Kania improved to 18-2, winning the No. 1 singles match 6-3, 6-3.
Emma Dobson lost the No. 3 singles match 6-4, 4-6, 3-10.
Gallion screaming, “Let’s Go Trojans!” in keeping with team tradition to let teammates know another point had been claimed was the moment that Valpo’s hopes of pulling off an upset grew extremely thin.
Gallion improved to 11-6 at No. 2 singles and showed how much she has improved since her freshman season.
“I love screaming that after a win!” Gallion said. “It just feels so good, especially on their home court. I felt like there was a lot of pressure coming into this because it’s big. Especially drawing Valpo in the first round, I just wanted to get it over with and winning feels good.”
A gut reaction to a blind draw is always the most honest one and in a sectional in which Chesterton and Valparaiso, in that order, clearly were the teams to beat, facing each other right off the bat can be a letdown upon learning the brackets and a stress point head into the tournament.
Gallion shared her reaction: “I was a little nervous at first, but then when it was actually match day, I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to get this over with. I’m going to play tennis and we’re going to win this in the first round and show who we are and make a statement.’”
Mission accomplished.
Chesterton had so little varsity experience beyond Kania and Smith that winning a third DAC title in four seasons seemed a reach and a sixth consecutive sectional title was no sure thing, but the Trojans went 7-0 to take care of the tougher half of the challenge and should secure the latter half Thursday.
“We’re really close friends and that makes us a better team because we’re comfortable with each other,” Gallion said of how the Trojans exceeded expectations.
After finishing her match, Gallion had three choices of which one to watch.
“I’ll watch Kenzie because she’s also a singles player and she’s going to be graduating, so it’s hard to see her leave because she’s been one of my biggest inspirations coming here,” Gallion said. “She’s great to watch and she’s been a big sister to me.”
Gallion said her improvement came from “training a lot in the offseason and I’ve been trying to incorporate a lot more in my game because last year it was kind of just me hitting it back and forth, back and forth, and I’ve been trying to incorporate drop shots and more spin to end points quicker.”
She played No. 3 singles last year and played several marathon matches.
“I’ve been trying to move the person around more, instead of just hitting it down the middle,” Gallion said. “I feel like that was my issue last year and that was why my games were so long because it kept the points longer, but I’m trying to end my games faster.”
Trying and succeeding against tougher competition than she faced as a freshman.
The win enabled the Trojans to advance to a Wednesday semifinal vs. Boone Grove.