St. Charles North upends Batavia

For each of the last three years, St. Charles North has come up tantalizingly short of Batavia in the Upstate Eight River Division boys tennis title chase.

So, when the North Stars clinched a tense and tightly contested 5-2 dual-meet victory over the three-time defending conference champions on Thursday in St. Charles, North coach Sean Masoncup quickly reminded his players that they hadn't accomplished their ultimate goal yet. The North Stars also defeated Batavia in a dual meet last season, but the Bulldogs overtook North 11 days later in the conference tournament to earn the UEC River crown.

"That's the first thing I talked about with the guys," Masoncup said. "We beat them last year, too, but they beat us at the conference tournament and won the championship. Every point from here on out is important. That's the way the conference standings are structured. Every match counts."

That's not to say that the North Stars (13-1 overall, 4-0 UEC River) had nothing to celebrate. North's victory gives it 26 conference points. (UEC teams receive one point for every conference singles and doubles match they win.)

The North Stars now lead Batavia (10-4, 3-1, 21 UEC River points) by five points heading into another key dual meet on Tuesday against crosstown rival St. Charles East. Like last year, the Bulldogs will have to overcome another deficit to win the league title at the conference tournament May 15 and 16, though this year's deficit may be larger than the margin Batavia faced in 2014.

"Like I told the guys, we can't count on (rallying in the conference tournament) every year," Batavia coach Brad Nelson said. "We have work to do, but there's still a lot of season left to go."

To no one's surprise, Thursday's dual was a closely fought duel. North broke out to a 2-0 lead behind straight-set victories by Ajay Gustafson (6-1, 6-2 over Will McClure in a battle of freshmen) at third singles and David Montgomery and Dillon Randazzo (6-0, 6-0 over Tommy Maren and Patrick Hanrahan) at third doubles.

Gustafson was admittedly battling nerves in his first encounter with Batavia but didn't show it in a dominant win.

"Coach talks about not letting nerves affect your play," said Gustafson, who improved to 4-0 in Upstate Eight action. "In my first match in conference I felt so nervous that I could barely breathe on the court. But with each match it gets a little easier. I was very happy with my play today."

Batavia countered with a 6-4, 6-3 win by juniors Nick Robinson and Andrew Nelson at second doubles over Tom Ninan and Trevor Kurtzhals. Nelson and Robinson's experience paid dividends in drawing the Bulldogs to within 2-1.

"This was one of our best matches of the season," Andrew Nelson said. "It's nice having experience in doubles. This is Nick's second year on the varsity and my third year. We know our strategy, where to shift on the court, how to work together, when to drive the ball and not slice it so the wind out there today couldn't take the ball up in the air and how to put balls away at the net. We also were able to hit lines when they poached and kept them off the net as much as we could."

The outcome of the dual meet rested with four matches that went three sets. North won three of those four matches, highlighted by a 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) victory by Jack Callaghan and Alex Gruber over Gunnar Malm and Kevin Fiddelke at fourth doubles. Gruber and Callaghan rallied from a 5-4 deficit to win the third set and the match.

Luke Dunteman and Matt Ernst also overcame a 4-3 Batavia lead in the third set to claim a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Emerson Hinzy and James Carr at first doubles.

Matt Kramer also bounced back from a second-set loss to knock off Josh Boyle 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 at second singles. Kramer won the conference tournament at second singles last spring but wants to help the North Stars grab the team title this year. "If we play our best the rest of the season we can do it," the junior said.

The dual meet took nearly three hours to complete because of the final match of the day, when Adam Maris upset North's Aaron Amburgey 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 at first singles. The match featured long baseline rallies, sometimes lasting more than 20 volleys, as Maris wore down one of the state's top singles players with his disciplined defensive style. Amburgey battled cramping in both calves and his hand but fought off the effects till the end of the match, when Maris broke Amburgey's serve for a 5-4 lead and then served out the match.

"That was a big victory for Adam," Brad Nelson said. "All year he's done a good job against top competition, and Aaron is a really great player. Adam is a cerebral player. He knows the game, knows what he's capable of doing and knows what his opponent is capable of doing and works his shots as needed. He keeps the ball in play, doesn't make many mistakes, and he's very quick and athletic. He's a frustrating player to play against. He's physically and mentally tough, and his soccer background gives him great conditioning. He just wears opponents down physically and mentally. He returns everything and he has a variety of shots he can use."

North was Batavia's fourth dual meet in as many days. The Bulldogs will try to close the conference gap with the North Stars next week when they play West Chicago Tuesday and St. Charles East Thursday.