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NewsTribune Athletes of the Week: La Salle-Peru’s Ella Lannen and April Pescetto · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  News Tribune, Athletes of the Week, LaSalle Peruz, Ella Lannon, and April
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  Pachetto. Written by Kevin Schlumber. This article is being read by an
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  automated voice, brought to you by Everlet. The LaSalle-Peru tennis doubles team
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  of Ella Lannon, and April Peschetto were paired together about halfway through
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  the season. The duo proved to be a strong one as Lannin
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  and Pichetto placed second at them Class 1A LaSalle-Peru sectional to earn
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  a trip to the state tournament. Both played in the sectional lost
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  year, and both were one match short of state, so both of
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  them were real hungry. LP coach Aaron Guintersays said. They came out
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  and played well on Friday. I think They lost one or two
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  games total on Friday, so the really came out dominant. On Saturday
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  morning we told they Coal City was hungry and had nothing to
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  lose, so they'd better go out and take care of business, and
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  they did. They played smart, steady, selectively aggressive tennis and they got
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  the job done. They had a good sectional. For their performance they
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  were voted the News Tribune Athletes of the Week, sponsored by Sophie
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  Grasser Plumbing and Heating. Lannon and Passetto answered some questions from News
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  Tribune sports editor Kevin Schlum. When did you start playing tennis and
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  how did you get into it? Lannon, I took a few tennis
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  camps my eighth grade year and started enjoying it a lot more
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  during my freshman year. I started getting into the sport while watching
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  my sister play during her school season when I was younger. Pescetto:
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  I enjoy the Oglesby tennis summer camps in grade school, so my
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  sophomore year I decided to play competitively at LP. What do you
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  enjoy about playing tennis? Lannan. I enjoy the competitiveness while also being
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  able to have fun with my partner. I enjoy the fun times,
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  but also the times of being serious. Picetto. What I enjoy about
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  tennis is how competitive it is. It's fast paced, and you're always
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  in a play. What makes you a good doubles team? Lannon, the
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  best part of us being a doubles team was our way to
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  move on from the mistakes either of us made. It made it
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  really fun and less afraid to mess up. Our coach always said,
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  don't be afraid to lose. Peschetto. I feel what makes us a
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  good doubles team is we are friends on and off the court.
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  We know how to pick each other up and we don't get
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  down on each other. Do you have any prematch rituals or routines
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  individually or As a doubles team? Lannon. Some things we would do.
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  Before every match was pray or tell each other what not to
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  do in order to play together or to not make common mistakes.
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  It forced us to think positive and know the correct fundamentals. Pichetto.
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  Personally, before each match I pray and I will repeat Philippians 4.13
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  in My head and try to gain self-confidence. As a team, we
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  just start to say positive words of affirmation and repeat good things
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  we will do. For example, we say something like, We will move
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  together, keep balls out of the net, and get our serves in.
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  We also have a saying that is, we are here for a
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  reach, which can be very motivating. What is your favorite memory from
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  playing LP tennis? Lannon, my favorite memory of LP tennis is playing
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  the Game Kill for the last 10 minutes several times per week.
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  It taught us to play aggressive as we would be in a
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  game. Pecetto. Obviously state will be a memory. Another one is my
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  first match ever, and um Scott Blessman was my coach at the
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  time. I was doing good but losing, and because I am so
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  competitive, during a changeover I started to cry while talking to him.
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  He kind of laughed a little, and that's when I knew that
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  this sport was definitely a mental game, and Blessman was going to
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  have a fun year coaching me. I want to give a shout
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  out to my pastor Bill Jacobson. He really has been like a
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  grandfather to me. I'm pretty sure he has never really missed a
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  home tennis meet unless there's an emergency. He truly is a number
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  one fan. What is the best Halloween costume you ever wore? Lannon,
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  the best Halloween costume I ever wore was Harley Quinn'cause I got
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  to dye my hair. Peschetto. My best Halloween costume was when I
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  was four and had to be Tinkerbell. What is the best candy
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  to get at Halloween? Lannon, I think the best candy to get
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  at Halloween is Kit Kat because I have always been a big
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  fan of chocolate rather than your candy. Peschetto. The best candy to
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  get at Halloween would be full-size chocolate bars like Twix. If you
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  could travel anywhere in the would where would you go and why?
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  Lannon, if I could go anywhere, I would go to Hawaii because
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  I enjoy the beach and hot weather. I love sitting on the
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  beach for the whole day when I travel. Peschetto. If I could
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  travel anywhere, I would go to the Bahamas because I want to
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  swim with the pigs at Pig Beach. What is your most listened
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  to song recently? Lannon, my most recently played song has been Picking
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  Petals by Alyssa Grace. Peschetto, my most recently listened to song would
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  be Sand in My Boots by Morgan Wallen or What a God
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  by SEU Worship. I do also listen to podcasts a lot as
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  well What are your thoughts on your performance last week? Lannon, I
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  think we played very well at sectional. We had very good competition
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  to go against while continuing to talk through every point to keep
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  the positive energy going. Our mindset was a big toughness for us
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  throughout the season. We fought hard to work at getting better with
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  it and playing as a team rather than individually. Peshetto. I thought
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  we performed well. We put in a lot of extra work outside
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  of practice. We came out strong and determined and really just worked
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  well together.