Barrington’s Coll/Nuckles pitch Pitchford upset

Nearly all of the top seeds at the prestigious Pitchford 32 Tennis Invite got off to a flying start Friday afternoon.

The one exception was a 3-4 seed from Oak Park-River Forest, Devon Jones/Luke Trinka, which was bounced from the front draw by the 9-16 team of George Coll and Ben Nuckles from Barrington in 3 sets.

Defending state singles champion Robert Stineman (20-0) from New Trier played nearly flawless tennis in his two matches to advance.

In doubles at Buffalo Grove, the No. 1 seed from Stevenson, Ross Putterman/David Packowitz, eased past a pair of opponents to earn a spot in today’s 8 a.m. quarterfinals against a 5-9 seed from Deerfield, Ben Shklyar/Alec Siegel.

Tourney host Hersey will welcome all of the play at both No. 1 and 2 singles in the championship bracket today, while Buffalo Grove will be the site for front-draw action at doubles to begin with before the winners migrate to Hersey in the afternoon for the semifinals and championship. Palatine, Fremd, Prospect and Rolling Meadows will host play as the backdraw continues.

“That was a big match for us to win today,” said Nuckles, who will join Coll in taking aim at 5-9 New Trier (Drew Campbell/Aaron Hiltzik) with a measure of revenge. Last week, the Barrington tandem lost a tough two-setter 7-5, 6-4 (11-9 super-tiebreaker) to another Trevian team, Aaron Ozga and Hiltzik, at the Hinsdale Central Invite.

“We weren’t about to let another close (one) get away from us this week,” said Coll.

“We really needed to beat OPRF today,” said Nuckles, “and the key for us was to break (Jones), a player with a big serve, twice in that third set.”

The Patriots defeated Fremd’s 9-16 seed Nick Makowiecki/Maciej Niemczyk 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.

“Ross and David did what they had to do to advance, but they both know they’ll have to elevate their play in order to get past a very good Deerfield team” said Stevenson coach Tom Stanhope.

Stanhope’s top singles player, Jeremy Bush, faced Stineman in the second round. Though unfazed by the superb New Trier senior, Bush, a junior, was unable to make much of a dent as he fell 6-2, 6-2. Stineman will face 5-9 Ben Quazzo of Latin this morning.

“Robert has an unbelievable arsenal of weapons, including a montrous serve, which I just wasn’t able to break,” said Bush. “His volleys were great, and when he came to the net, that point was over.”

Stineman won the first set when a pair of ridiculous returns helped finish off Bush.

“Playing a guy like Robert can be so frustrating, because he comes at you with so many types of shots, like that one out of the air, which most players would let bounce before returning,” said Patriots assistant Jeff Zanchelli. “But Jeremy made him work for his points and had a very good second set against him.”

Fremd senior Matt Burkhardt had his chance to upend Quazzo in the second round, but the three-time state qualifier from Latin held off his 9-16 seeded opponent to capture a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory.

“If I could have held serve better in that first set, then maybe the result would have been different — in fact, that was the story of that match, my inability to hold serve,” said Burkhardt.

There was some good news on the singles front for area players, with 5-9 seeds Josh Cogan (Batavia) and Gordon Zhang (Naperville North) both advancing into the quarters. Both bounced their opponents into the backdraw with straight-set victories.

Cogan, who last year enjoyed a marvelous run at the state tournament that took him within one round of a medal, earned a spot opposite 2010 state runner-up Tim Kopinski of Stagg today. Cogan won 6-4, 6-1 over Warren sophomore Kristiyan Trukov (13-3) to make the quarterfinals.

Zhang, undefeated in 2011, will meet 3-4 seed Sammy Bloom of Hinsdale Central after a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Brandon Harris (Edwardsville).

“I am a much more aggressive player than I was last season,” said Zhang, after his 6-0, 6-0 first-round victory over Jim Moslemian (Palatine) on Friday. “I worked on that a lot during the off-season as well as adding more speed and power to my serve, and this weekend I am really looking forward to playing many of the best players in the state, beginning with (Bloom) and with an eye on reaching the top 6-8 at the state tourament.”

Zhang finished top 12 last May and had impressive victories over Joey Leto of Downers Grove South, and a long 3-setter against Toby Ma of Deerfield before being eliminated in the consolation quarterfinals against Quazzo (6-4, 6-1), who later earned a sixth-place medal.