It shows that what we’ve been practicing has been paying off.”

Lauren Dyer

ROCHELLE — There were awards aplenty for the Rochelle Lady Hub varsity tennis team on Saturday, when the girls returned to their home courts for the annual Lady Hub Invitational.

Nine Rochelle players brought home first or second-place finishes in the tournament, where the Lady Hubs took second as a team. Seniors Lauren Dyer and Abby Metzger combined for a 3-1 record at No. 2 doubles, beating Freeport, Kaneland and Newman to finish in second place.

“It shows that what we’ve been practicing has been paying off,” Dyer said. “It was really fun to play well as a team and Abby and I said that we were going to bring home some hardware. We worked really well together and we relied on each other a lot throughout the day. We’ve known each other for a long time and we have a connection. We also communicate really well.”

Seniors Erin Murphy and Kitty Williams went 2-2 over four matches, beating Kaneland and Freeport to finish second at No. 1 doubles. With two teams short on doubles players, juniors Ashley Lozano-Barragan and Merit Namaste-Rose stepped in and finished 3-1 over four matches at No. 3 doubles, claiming three victories including wins over DeKalb and Newman.

“Kitty and I really focus on having fun when we play,” Murphy said. “We try not to get down on ourselves and that was a big focus for us during the tournament. We love to bring home a win and I think the tournament will be a big confidence boost for the rest of the season. We’re all really close with each other and we’ve all grown up and played sports with each other. Our new girls are doing really well and the returning girls are working together to help everyone out.”

Seniors Sydney Carmichael and Natalie Wagner placed second at No. 3 doubles, going 2-2 with victories against Kaneland and DeKalb. Junior Jaicee Ramos was the lone award winner in singles play, finishing 2-2 at No. 2 singles to take second place. Rochelle (3-8, 1-2 Interstate 8) will look to build on its strong tournament performance Monday, when the girls host Mendota.

“Natalie and I have really good chemistry and we give each other a lot of constructive criticism,” Carmichael said. “We’re continuing to get better. Natalie plays well in both the back row and the front row. When she was in the back row, we used the wind to our advantage and we were able to figure that out by the end of the tournament. We have a great group of girls and a lot of girls, like me, are new. It’s been really fun and we’re building each other up all of the time.”

Rounding out the varsity players on Saturday were seniors Kendyl Darby and Yaretzi Villalobos, who combined for three wins in singles play. Darby went 2-2 with victories over Newman and DeKalb at No. 2 singles, while Villalobos went 1-3 with a win against DeKalb at No. 1 singles.