Elements have a chilling effect on Pitchford 32
The Pitchford 32 Tennis Invite came to an abrupt end on Saturday morning.
A Friday night with some rain combined with a forecast for unpleasant weather throughout Saturday led caused the cancellation of the second day of play from tournament officials of the high-profile tournament.
Unofficial results had New Trier leading the field with 40 overall points, followed by Hinsdale Central (32) and Stevenson (28) with Lake Forest next at 26 points, and Deerfield and surprising Glenbrook North each tied for fifth place with 24 points.
Only a few players were able to get three full rounds of tennis played on Friday, including top seed Jason Brown of Deerfield at No. 1 singles, as well as Alex Ross (Lyons Township) and New Trier’s Alex Galoustian at No. 2 singles.
Brown, who was the 32 runner-up last season to Robert Stineman of New Trier, will receive serious consideration for the 1-2 seed at the state tournament in one month, along with New Trier senior Jared Hiltzik.
The reigning NSC champion from Stevenson had advanced 3 of its 4 teams through the championship bracket, with senior Brian Kim (No. 2 singles) cruising in his first two matches Friday at host site Fremd, while both Patriots doubles teams stayed alive as well.
Colin Harvey and Andrew Komarov rolled to consecutive straight set victories at No. 1 doubles, while Dennis Kontorvich and Adam Maryniak, just introduced as the No. 2 doubles team by coach Tom Stanhope, were perfect in their first two matches together at Rolling Meadows.
Fremd junior Maciej Niemcyzk advanced at No. 2 singles after a straight-set success over Erik Barns of Barrington and a win against Daryl Sullivan from Homewood-Flossmoor. The Vikings’ Matt Buesing and Mike Artov gave No. 2 seed Hinsdale Central (Peter Hagermoser-Alex Heneghan) all they could handle in their tournament opener at No. 1 doubles before the Red Devils prevailed in 2 sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
After dropping his first match of the day to Glenbrook North freshman Will Sauser, Prospect sophomore Carson Burke came back to win his next two in the consolation bracket before his first day ended Friday on his home courts in Mt. Prospect.
Naperville North senior Gordon Zhang was on the court late Friday with 3-4 seed Sam Bloom (Hinsdale Central) when play was suspended, as was Neuqua Valley’s Tim Worley at No. 2 singles in his match with top seed and tournament favorite Martin Joyce of Hinsdale Central.
Worley and his teammates will be at Naperville Central on Monday, while next weekend, Naperville North takes part in the two-day Naper Valley Invitational.