Stevenson reloads and doubles down at BG

Life without 2012 doubles state champions David Packowitz and Ross Putterman this season left a major void at the top of the Stevenson lineup. It’s only natural the Patriots would miss not only with their leadership qualities, but also the 30-plus victories and countless tournament championships they supplied.

Colin Harvey and Andrew Komarov don’t put themselves in the same category as last year’s champs, but the young doubles duo from Stevenson looks like it’s headed in the same direction.

The Pats’ top doubles team won three straight matches on Saturday, including their final with Glenbrook North (Bill Angel-Adam Spector) 7-5, 6-3 to help fuel a Stevenson victory over seven teams at the annual Bison Invite hosted by Buffalo Grove.

The reigning North Suburban Conference champs received first-place efforts from Mitch Newman at No. 2 singles, as well as No. 3 doubles (Alex Cyrus-Dennis Kontorovich) and won three of four head-to-head matches with runner-up Glenbrook North to edge the Spartans 41-38 for the team crown.

The host Bison finished third overall with 27 points, 9 ahead of both Lake Zurich and St. Viator who tied for fourth.\

“Both David and Ross were guys I looked up to last year,” said Komarov, “and they were great role models to follow in the way they played and prepared during training, and when they competed. But now they are both off at college and not with our team, so it’s time for Colin and myself to step in as the No. 1 team here at Stevenson.”

Last season, Komarov went 3-2 as a freshman in the state tournament with partner Ryan Buxbaum.

“We’re great friends on and off the court, and we do just about everything together, so our chemistry when we’re playing is very good,” said Harvey, a freshman. “ I think the more we play, the better we will get.”

Harvey-Komarov cruised past their first two opponents with straight set victories before running into Angel-Spector, who were eager to avenge an earlier defeat to the Stevenson duo.

The Spartans broke Harvey to go up 4-3 in the first set, but flashing some terrific athletic ability for two big men, the Pats duo roared back and took a 40-love lead on a Komarov overhead smash before Angel’s double fault gave Stevenson the set.

In the second and decisive set, Komarov and Harvey took turns supplying winning shots and won 6-3.

“The guys needed to stay away from Angel, who was having a great first set, so we might have been a little lucky to take that set,” said Stevenson assistant coach Jeff Zanchelli. “But in the second, you saw them doing the type of things they are capable of doing. As their game continues to progress, they’ll be in pretty good shape for the end of the season.”

Senior Brian Kim dropped a straight-set match in his final with Sandburg junior and two-time state qualifier Eric Pontow (6-0, 6-0) while Michael Sims fell just short at No. 3 singles against Glenbrook North’s Michael Osher 7-6(2), 6-1 over at Buffalo Grove, which was the site for all three flights of singles for the day.

Freshman Anton Levitin played some terrific points against Kim in his 6-2, 6-2 semifinal defeat but went on to capture a third-place trophy over fellow frosh Will Sauser of Glenbrook North, who was forced to retire for the day after suffering a pinched nerve in his neck in the closing moments of his semifinal with Pontow.

“It’s been a big adjustment playing No. 1 and against so many juniors and seniors, but I feel like I’ve been getting better with each match against them,” said Levitin.

“Anton is one of those kids who plays up to the level of his opponent, so we’ve seen him play some great tennis against some very good players,” said Bison coach Kevin Schrammel. “We’ve seen his confidence grow as the season has gone on, and that’s one of the great things about him.”

Despite dropping their final two matches on the day, including a long three-set match with St. Viator (Joe Nowakowski-Dan DeSio) for third-place, Schrammel’s No. 1 team of Vlad Zupperman-Ari Kazan (8-2) continued to impress their coach as the prestigious Pitchford 32 nears for the Bison standouts.

“Yes, we want to win, but what’s more important is how they play,” Schrammel said. “Those two guys are playing at a very good level, and they showed it against Angel-Spector in their semifinal and with St. Viator, which is a very good team as well.”

The Bison pair, which overwhelmed their counterparts from Fremd in a recent 4-3 shocker over the reigning Mid-Suburban League champs, was unable to get past Glenbrook North in the semis (6-4, 7-5) then failed to do the same with St. Viator despite a nice comeback in the second set to draw even and set up a decisive third set.

“We do a very good job of setting up points and playing doubles they way you’re supposed to,” said Kazan. “But we didn’t finish points the way we should and know how to. Plus, St. Viator is a very good team.

“This would have been a good win for us in regard to sectional seeding, because (St. Viator) is in our sectional, so now we’ll just have to go out and play our best and continue to win our matches.”

The BG pair at No. 2, Nick Boustead-Steve Mazzoni, got themselves a big win early on, defeating Stevenson’s Pawel Jaworski-Andy Maryniuk (6-4, 4-6, 6-1) before falling in straight sets to Miguel Perez-Zahkodin of Glenbrook North, who improved to 13-1, in the final.

“That win could really help them come sectionals,” said Schrammel.

St. Viator’s Nowakowski-DeSio (12-2) gave first-year coach Joe Lascon plenty to smile about after their impressive day ended with their marathon effort against Buffalo Grove.

“Those (two) have been together from the very beginning of the season, and will stay together to get plenty of matches under their belt and ready for the ESCC tournament and sectionals,” said Lascon. “They have been playing really good tennis, and today’s win over a very solid team from Buffalo Grove was a big one for them.”

The tandem’s lone loss of the season, before Saturday’s defeat in the semis to Stevenson, came recently at the hands of Marian Catholic (Mitch Zavesky-Kyle Scheffers), a team that went 3-2 last May during their first appearance at the state tournament.

“We feel that we can compete with (Marian) and if we continue to play well,” said DeSio. “We’ll have another chance with them at our conference tournament in a few weeks.”

“We weren’t very sharp in that first set with (Buffalo Grove) but we broke them early in both the second and third sets, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the match,” said Nowakowski, a senior whose booming serve closed out the Bison 6-4 in the third and final set.

“Buffalo Grove is an excellent team, and beating them, who beat Fremd two weeks ago, really helps us later because we’re all in the same sectional.”

Palatine, which faces the Lions this week in a nonconference dual, was seventh overall, with Minah Lai enjoying the best day of all for the Pirates after his fourth-place finish at No. 2 singles.

Lake Zurich used a third-place medal at No. 3 doubles (Jack Arends-Kolton Reitsch) to earn its tied with St. Viator.