St. Charles East tops defending UEC champ Batavia

Batavia, the two-time defending Upstate Eight Conference River champion in boys tennis, needed both third-set matches to overcome St. Charles East on Tuesday afternoon.

But it was not to be as the Saints' duo of Steven Waynick and Nick Hauptman prevailed at third doubles over Batavia counterparts Andrew Nelson and Emerson Hinzy, 6-1, 5-7 and 6-3, to give St. Charles East a 4-3 victory in Batavia.

St. Charles North (4-0) remained undefeated with its win over Elgin in league play; the Saints (9-2, 3-1) and Bulldogs (12-3, 1-1) have one loss apiece.

Batavia junior Drake Swift evened the match at 3-3 with a third-set 6-2 win after exchanging 6-4 verdicts with the Saints' Matt McCarthy at second singles.

"We knew (what the team score was), but it's like we put it out of our minds," Waynick said. "We knew (Nelson and Hinzy) were going to be better than some of the guys we have faced. We just focused on one point at a time."

The Saints' Jasper Koenen, the three-time state qualifier who finished fourth overall last year, was one game away from a love-love victory at first singles. The Michigan State-bound Koenen has not dropped a set this spring in extending his season-long winning streak to 15 matches.

"I've always dreamed of playing in the Big Ten," Koenen said. "This win was (No.) 96 (for my career). A couple more for 100. That's one of my main goals."

Sophomore Nick Stellon doubled the Saints' lead to 2-0 with his straight-sets win at third singles.

But Batavia rebounded behind its top-two doubles teams: Adam Maris and Ryan Sterling at first doubles and the duo of Jeff Lorden and Josh Boyle. "Getting that first set really helped a lot," Lorden said of the Bulldogs' 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Saints' Colin Jones and Connor Anderson. "I think we come into each match one point at a time."

The Lorden-Boyle partnership has been denied only once in 17 matches this spring.

The Maris-Sterling doubles unit has been vanquished only twice this season.

"(St. Charles East, St. Charles North and us) all know we can beat each other," Sterling said. "Both teams and individuals. We all know that North is going to be good."

Maris and Sterling defeated the Saints' George Spoerl and Alex Winters 7-5 and 6-1.

But the Saints' fourth doubles squad of Chris Horn and Stefan Cvarkovic had the last of the five straight-sets wins on the afternoon with a 6-3, 6-0 victory.

"We knew this was going to be a tough matchup," St. Charles East coach Rob Livermore said. "Batavia has already won a couple tournaments this year. It's a real big win for us."