It was quite the bus ride home for Sandburg senior Estela Loureiro.

Shortly after winning the first girls tennis state championship in school history, Loureiro was on a conference call that included older sisters Anna, who was in Missouri, and Maia and her father Marco, who were both in Texas.

“There was a lot of happy talk,” said Estela, who’s an Iowa recruit. “Everyone was super excited. It was a lot of happiness and it was a moment we have been waiting for.”

That moment finally came Saturday as Loureiro beat New Trier’s Julia Ludwig 6-2, 6-3 to win the Class 2A state title at Buffalo Grove. Loureiro joins Morgan Park Academy’s Jerricka Boone as the only two Southland singles players to win state. Boone accomplished the feat in 2009 and 2011.

It also brings an end of an era for the Loureiro sisters at Sandburg.

Anna was a four-time sectional champion who graduated in 2019 and played tennis at Army. Maia, who graduated in 2024, is playing at Northwestern. Maia and Estela teamed up to take second in the state in doubles when Estela was a freshman.

“I think Maia was happiest for me because we couldn’t get it done our freshman year,” Estela said. “She was happy I could do it my senior year.”

Needless to say, Sandburg coach Brian Ostrander is going to miss the Loureiro family.

“Anna and Maia always said they wanted to win a state championship for us,” said Ostrander, who has coached for 33 years. “They call me ‘coach Bo’ and they said they wanted to win it for ‘coach Bo’ and didn’t do it. This year, Estela said she wanted to win it for me, too.

“It’s been a special relationship I’ve had with the family.”

Especially the way it ended.

“I saw her hitting shots when she was really young, and now I appreciate every moment I had to watch her play here,” Ostrander said of Estela.

Being the youngest of the three sisters, nothing came easy for Estela.

“I definitely had to earn my points,” she said. “They were not giving them to me.”

On the plus side, they both gave her plenty of good advice as she embarked on this state run.

“They taught me a lot of things along the way about having to stay humble,” she said of her sisters. “They were really my guide. They made sure I focused on the mental game.”

Estela will take a short amount of time off and hit the books while planning to graduate in December. She will be on Iowa’s roster for the tennis season, which for college starts in January.

“We love her energy, her spirit and fight that she brings to the court,” Iowa coach Sasha Boros said in a news release.

Loureiro is looking forward to keeping that family tradition alive in Iowa City. Her father, Marco, was a member of the Hawkeyes’ track team and her mother, Lydia, was on the rowing team.

Oh, and April 16 is circled on the calendar as well as Estela and Iowa visit Maia and Northwestern in Evanston for a tennis match.

“That’s something we’re both really looking forward to,” Estela said.