Libertyville's Tsorotiotis corrals semifinal spot
It was high noon at the boys tennis state tournament, and much later, when the clock struck 3, Stefano Tsorotiotis was still standing.
The Libertvyille freshman stunned 1-2 seed Peter Tarwid with a three-hour marathon thriller, sending the Wildcats' standout into Saturday morning's semifinals against Eddie Grabill (35-2) of Hinsdale Central when the final day of play begins at 9 a.m. at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights.
The Stevenson team of Colin Harvey/Andrew Komarov (27-3) also shot through and earned a spot in the semifinals with a nearly perfect effort against 5-8 seed David Zakhodian/Miguel Perez (27-6) of Glenbrook North. Harvey/Komarov won in just under an hour with a 6-3, 6-0 victory.
Next up for the 1-2 seed from Stevenson is Hinsdale Central, as Michael Czlonka/James Bruning advanced by giving 3-4 seed Morton (35-1) its first defeat of the season.
"This is amazing," said Tsorotiotis minutes after he improved to 29-3 by narrowly painting the line with a wicked backhand to dash the hopes of Tarwid (28-1).
Lake Forest went 1-3 in the quarterfinals to fall behind defending champ Hinsdale Central, which has built a comfortable lead over the Scouts with a perfect score of 48 to the NSC champs' 35.
"I always felt and knew that I could play with Peter, and beat him, especially after my recent loss to him at the Deerfield Invite," said Tsorotiotis. "But even when he came back after I built a 4-1 lead in the third, I knew all along my serve and ability to hit big shots when I needed them would keep me in it - that and my fitness, which might have actually been the difference during those final games before I closed him out."
Earlier in the day, both Tsorotiotis and his teammate, Ben VanDixhorn (33-5), had little trouble advancing into the quarterfinals. But the run ended there for Libertyville's junior, who ran into a stubborn opponent in Brice Polender (Lake Forest) in a 6-3, 6-1 decision.
"Ben is such a good player," Polender said. "He has all the shots in his game, but I tried not to let him get into any type of rhythm, while playing fearlessly and with a lot of heart. And in the end, I was able to get past him, while helping my team stay in the race with Hinsdale Central and the others."
Polender, a junior, next meets defending champ Martin Joyce (28-0) in the semis after the Red Devils junior outlasted Tony Leto of Downers Grove South in three sets.
Tsorotiotis took the first set from Tarwid 6-4 but soon after found himself headed to a third and final set before a big, sun-drenched crowd at Hersey. The freshman quickly built a 4-1 advantage, but in the usual ebb and flow of top-flight singles play, the NSC champ roared back to draw even at 4-4.
Things looked bright for Tsorotiotis, who went up 30-love on serve, eventually grabbing a 40-30 lead and finally winning the game when a well-placed big serve set up a forehand winner to make it 5-4. Tsorotiotis broke Tarwid to win the match.
"Two great players out there today, and a lot of big points were won by both, but in the end, I feel that Stefano's experience in national tournaments really helped a young player like him stay in the match with a four-year veteran like Peter," said Libertyville coach Dan Kiernan. "That, and the fact that he's a very good player as well."
Harvey/Komarov were in top form from the outset on Friday, overwhelming Oak Park-River Forest's Jonah Philion/Miles Blim 6-1, 6-0 to earn a place in the quarterfinals. And even a very good Glenbrook North team had few answers for the Patriots in that matchup.
"Today we played some of our best tennis, and that match with GBN might have been our best overall effort of the season," said Komarov.
"With that said, we've got to come out and play even better in order to get back to the final, and hopefully Hinsdale's No. 1 team tomorrow afternoon," added Harvey.
Stevenson's Adam Maryniuk/Matt Harvey (21-6) saw their season end in the backdraw against Normal Community High. Likewise for Vernon Hills' David Dobrik/Nikita Lunkov, who despite dropping their season finale in at Prospect 6-0, 7-6 (4) remained quite satisfied with their work over two days.
"If you had told us we would be all-state this spring, we wouldn't have believed it, so for us to come out of here with a record of 4-2 said a lot about our play during the final few weeks of the season," said Dobrik, who is on his way to Illinois State after a second straight state tourney experience.
The Warren team of Samuel Gudeman/John Westerberg are done after their consolation bracket loss in the morning, as is Carmel junior Kevin Hunt (25-5) who had a terrific first visit here, going 4-2 over his two days.
"I was not doing too well after that first-round loss yesterday, but I had to pull it back together in order to get back out there, and even though I played four grueling matches on that first day, I ended up feeling really good about the tournament," said Hunt, who was eliminated by Will Sauser of Glenbrook North in three sets.
"What a great match between Kevin and Will," said Carmel assistant coach Nancy Fehn. "They were both great gentlemen out there, and each played with a lot of pride, and it was a real joy to watch both of them."