Chesterton No. 1 doubles players Aleksa Sorgic and Amelia Smith adjust to change of pace thrown at them in sectional final and cruise into the LaPorte regional with 19-1 record

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Next to No. 1 singles, No. 1 doubles is the most coveted spot in an Indiana high school lineup because even if a school doesn’t advance beyond the regional round, the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles teams, provided they don’t lose in the regional, get a second shot at advancing to the semi-state round.
As a result, the No. 1 doubles is loaded with power vs. power matchups, talented players sending lasers across the net in both directions.
That’s how it usually goes anyway. Valparaiso threw a curveball, actually more like an eephus pitch, in Friday’s sectional final. In a tactic that showed how much the Vikings’ coaching staff respects the abilities of Chesterton No. 1 doubles players Aleksa Sorgic and Amelia Smith, the Vikings hit the super-slow motion button, which temporarily led to a panic button counterpunch.
“It was really weird,” Chesterton junior Amelia Smith said. “They played both at the baseline, instead of one up, one back, the way every doubles team plays. So, it was really strange to play against because my biggest strength is just crushing it at that back person and then taking my chance to go down the line on the net person and there was no opportunity for that. They were just at the baseline lobbing it, and that made hard for both me and Lex.”
It worked brilliantly, until it didn’t.
Smart strategy?
“For sure,” Sorgic said. “It definitely threw me and Amelia off. We were in our heads. We were upset. We were really upset, and then we started slowing our game down. Me and Ameilia are very fast. We like to be aggressive, volleys, end the point fast, but they wanted to play out and roll the balls and make them deep and there was nothing we could do with them. So, we had to slow down and then we started playing much, much better. Then after that, that set we came back and won 6-4 and the second set we won 6-2.”
Coach Tom Bour recalled the early Valpo lead being 4-1. It was 4-0, per Sorgic’s recollection. Either way, it was an impressive, well planned and well executed attempt at an upset.
It even threw Bour for a loop.
“To 1 doubles credit, I wasn’t ready for it,” Bour said. “I wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t have the girls prepared at all for it. I panicked a little bit. Thankfully, Scott (Garriston, assistant coach) did not. And he reeled those two girls in and coached them all the way. Scott gave them a little better mindset, how they’re going to have to be a little more patient and when they get a chance to put a ball away, they have to put it away.”
Once they reacted to the unusual style appropriately, Sorgic and Smith put the hammer down and won the match 6-4, 6-2.
They adjusted. When appropriate, they answered lobs with lobs. And when they picked some spots to whistle line drives, they did so efficiently and emphatically. They prefer battling with missiles, but they showed that if forced, they can win squirt gun fights too. The talented twosome has gone 19-1, the only loss coming to Penn in a match that went to tiebreakers.
“Our biggest thing is we’ve both been singles players before, and we’re both fast. We know that we both can cover the entire court ourselves if we needed to,” Smith said. “So, if someone’s going to be in the middle, that’s fine because I know that I’m going to get any ball that Lex can’t get at the net. And I know that if I can’t get a ball at the net, she’s going to get it. She’s not just going to let it go by. So we can trust each other.”
As a freshman, Sorgic was a No. 2 doubles player. She was No. 1 singles as a sophomore, No. 2 singles last season. Smith played mostly JV as a freshman but appeared in some varsity matches, including a memorable marathon No. 3 singles tug-of-war she won on tiebreakers vs. Culver Academies. She played No. 1 doubles with then senior Ava Komp last year.
Neither Smith nor Sorgic has been as equipped for a long postseason run as right now.
Smith’s improvement since her sophomore season instantly was easy to spot.
“I feel like I’ve mentally grown from how I used to be,” Smith said. “Every time I’d come out here, I’d be like, ‘I’m so nervous. I’m so nervous.’ But now I come out here and I’m like, ‘I’m ready to win. I’m ready to win.’ I’m not nervous at all, and it feels much better than past years for me, mentally.”
Playing with such a talented partner has benefitted both girls.
“Being with a partner I know is going to support me really helps me stay calm in my mindset,” Smith said. “I know I can trust her and she’s not going to be giving up points. And if I give up points, she’s got my back, and I’ve got her back.”
Chesterton opens sectional play Tuesday at Kessling Park at 4:30 vs. LaPorte. Sorgic and Smith will need to do more than just show up to defeat the Slicers’ tough No. 1 doubles tandem of Brooklyn James and Dana McQurater in a rematch of a 6-2, 6-4 Chesterton victory on April 24.
Based on what they saw Friday, expect the Trojans No. 1 doubles team to be ready for anything.