Citizen Staff/James Wold
Beaver Dam's trio of, from left, Erika, Allie and Emily Chitko helped the Golden Beavers girls tennis team to a Little Ten title.
Get the three Chitko sisters — Emily, Allie and Erika — together far away from the tennis courts and they're a fun-loving bunch.
On the court — that's a bit of a different story.
"Our opponents don't always like us," said Emily, a senior for Beaver Dam's girls tennis team. "We're so competitive. We don't like to lose."
That also goes when they play against each other.
"If I'm losing to (middle sister) Allie while playing singles, we really go at it," Emily said with a laugh. "We don't really ever finish a match."
But the trio have finished off plenty of opponents this season. They have a 52-14 combined record and only lost five matches in the Little Ten.
Emily remains perfect, 22-0, entering today's Division 1 subsectional meet at Hartford. Emily and Allie, a sophomore, were 12-0 as a No. 1 doubles pairing and head into the playoffs with plenty of confidence.
"I like it because we know each other so well," Allie said.
"We can lose three games in a row and know we can come back and win the match," added Emily.
Erika has been no slouch herself in singles play. She overcame a slow start to her freshman year and is 13-9 despite playing in the No. 1 or 2 positions.
"In the beginning, she had a tough time mentally," said Emily of Erika. "She wasn't as experienced as we were. But she's grown a lot."
While this is the only year Beaver Dam coach Dave Kalscheur will have all three sisters, the group made it count. Led by the Chitkos, BD finished 40-9 in LTC play to capture the conference crown.
"They're a lot of fun," Kalscheur said. "I've had a wonderful time coaching the girls. They listen and work hard."
Emily agreed but said a title wasn't easy.
"It's really cool to have a conference title with Allie and Erika," Emily said. "All the running and work we did in the offseason paid off for us.
All three couldn't help but praise their teammates for their efforts to help the team reach the heights it has.
"Our team's been very supportive of us and they help us out a lot," Allie said.
"We're very proud of them and we wouldn't be where we are without them," added Emily.
This success story for BD started when Emily was just 5 years old and hitting balls into her parents' garage. Allie soon followed and Erika watched her sisters intently until she could start playing.
A big boost in their education came from their aunt, Melissa, who teaches tennis at Neenah High School.
"We would get lessons from Melissa," Emily said. "That was a big help in our development."
Talk to the trio for 10 minutes and it's easy to pick up on their personalities. Being the eldest sister, Emily is the rock of the group.
"She likes to be the boss of the group and makes sure the entire team is focused," Allie said. "We don't know what's going to happen with next year's team. She's like a mother to the team."
Even if that focus at times comes at the detriment of the other two.
"She's so focused on the court that if she found out I died while she's playing, I'm not sure if she'd react," said Erika with a laugh. "She brushes everything off."
Erika is more toward the other end of the emotional spectrum.
"Erika's very easy going," Allie said. "Even if she loses, she's up around and joking with people less than five minutes later."
Stuck in the middle — literally — is Allie.
"Off the court, she just goes with the flow," Emily said. "But you can tell she's grown a lot from last year."
Now the threesome have other goals in mind. Erika said she just wants to get through to sectionals while Emily and Allie are looking forward to a state tournament where they hope to be seeded in the event.
But even if sectionals is the last time all three compete together in high school, they also know finding someone to play won't be as hard.
"With us, it's always easy to find someone to play tennis with," Emily said.