St. Charles N. edge Glenbard West for West Aurora title

Balance between singles and doubles was the difference for the St. Charles North boys tennis team on Saturday in Aurora.

Glenbard West crowned both singles champions at the West Aurora Invitational, and St. Charles East scored all 14 its points by advancing three doubles teams to the championship match.

But, in the end, it was the North Stars' consistency that enabled to squad to pick up its second major team title of the season.

St. Charles North scored 7 points in singles play and augmented that total with 10 points by its three doubles team.

As a result, the North Stars edged Glenbard West, 17-16, for the title. The Saints were three behind their city and Upstate Eight River rival for third.

South Elgin was fourth, followed by Oswego East, Conant, Marmion and West Aurora.

"There were three great teams here today," St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup said of Glenbard West and St. Charles East. "A lot of the difference was the (No.) 3 doubles team coming through to win that (championship) match. That was the turning point of the tournament."

The North Stars' third unit of Dillon Randazzo and Dave Montgomery denied St. Charles East counterparts Kevin Fortier and Chris Horn in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

"I think we just had an overall solid team," Montgomery said. "Dillon does a very good job of finishing off the point. I'm the consistent one."

The North Stars and Saints have a critical league dual match on Tuesday.

"It didn't even come to my mind," Montgomery said of the possible repercussions. "We just take it point by point."

But the Saints' Kevin Schreiner and Nick Hauptmann reversed the results against the North Stars' second tandem of Trevor Kurtzhals and Nick Ninan.

The Saints' No. 2 doubles team surrendered but a pair of games to the top seeds.

"Today we really clicked," Schreiner said. "By the end of the day, we had really come together as a team."

The Saints' first doubles team of Alex Winters and Connor Anderson were engaged in a marathon three-set match with Oswego East sophomores Mitch Perry and Ryan Zaprzal.

Winters and Anderson forced a decisive third set with a 6-4 triumph, but their late rally in the final set fell short.

"The entire match, we were back and forth," Winters said. "It just happened at the end, they had the momentum. It could have gone either way. We had the lead in the first set but weren't able to finish it."

The North Stars' Matt Kramer placing runner-up at second singles, and Aaron Amburgey winning the consolation title at first singles proved to be the difference for St. Charles North in the team title.

"We took our regular singles guys and had them play doubles today," St. Charles East coach Rob Livermore said. "We knew in that case we were underdogs (at singles)."

Glenbard West junior Nate Dell won 36 of his 40 games to cruise to the title at first singles.

The Hilltoppers' leader won his first invite title of the season in straight sets over fellow two-time state qualifier John King of Marmion.

"John played very well," Dell said. "Throughout the whole day I really kept my emotions in check. I have been working on that the past few months. It was pretty satisfying that my emotions were in check today."

Steven Hanna, the Hilltoppers' top-seeded second singles player, was equally impressive for Glenbard West, accruing a cumulate score of 36-8.

West Aurora senior William Isiminger, its No. 1 singles player, was the lone athlete to win a match for the host Blackhawks.