St. Charles North ends Batavia's run

Aaron Amburgey is on the cusp of graduating from St. Charles North. But the Kentucky native has a minimum of one more week to the boys tennis season.

The North Stars advanced six of its combined singles players and doubles teams to championship matches of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division tournament on Saturday in Elgin.

Batavia needed a minor miracle to extend its consecutive run of championships to four as the North Stars entered the two-day tournament with a 4-point lead on the Bulldogs courtesy of their undefeated record in regular-season duals.

St. Charles North needed but one triumph to earn its first conference title in four years.

Amburgey had added motivation.

"I knew (Amburgey) wanted to beat me," said his opponent, Batavia senior Adam Maris. "Ryan Sterling and I beat him (and Grant Spellman) in the finals at first doubles last year. He came ready to play."

Maris defeated the North Stars' No. 1 singles player in the schools' regular-season match.

But it was all Amburgey in the rematch Saturday morning at Larkin. Amburgey did not drop a game in the opening set and closed out Maris 6-4 in the second.

The two-set win clinched the title for the North Stars with 79 combined points. Batavia was runner-up with 74, while St. Charles East had 69.

Geneva was a distant fourth, followed by Elgin, Streamwood, West Chicago and Larkin.

"(Maris) beat me in the regular season," Amburgey said. "I kind of knew what to expect from him. I didn't want to switch my game plan if I missed a few shots. (Maris) is a real consistent player. I tried to throw him out of his comfort zone."

"I don't know if I was playing that poorly, but he was playing really, really well," Maris said.

The North Stars' second and third singles members, Matt Kramer and Ajay Gustafson, also reached the finals.

But Batavia senior Josh Boyle outlasted Kramer in three sets, and St. Charles East sophomore Charlie Downing won his first career championship at No. 3 singles with a straight-sets win over Gustafson.

In the doubles finals - conducted at Elgin - the North Stars' third and fourth duos of David Montgomery-Dillon Randazzo and Jack Callaghan-Alex Gruber denied their twin counterparts from St. Charles East for the last of the North Stars' three championship units.

The North Stars and Saints will headline the St. Charles East sectional on Saturday.

"Right now, we just want to enjoy this conference (title)," St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup said. "It's been a long time since we won one."

Callaghan, an All-Area basketball selection, played tennis for the first time in his four-year career at St. Charles North.

"These guys really welcomed me," Callaghan said. "This will be my last high school (conference) event."

For Batavia, Boyle came back to win the final two sets in 17 combined games after losing 2-6 against Kramer in the opening set.

"You can hit five good shots against (Kramer), and he will return them all," Boyle said. "If you hit a bad shot, you're going to lose the point. I tried to play deep to his backhand."

In the second doubles final, the Bulldogs' Andrew Nelson and Nick Robinson had a peculiar match against the North Stars' Trevor Kurtzhals and Tom Ninan.

In three one-sided sets, Nelson and Robinson had bookend love results to negate dropping the middle set 2-6.

"North is a streaky team at (No.) 2 doubles," Batavia coach Brad Nelson said. "The third set, we dialed it up a notch."

But the North Stars' regular-season edge proved too much for Batavia to overcome.

"North won big matches (during the dual season)," Nelson said. "North pulled through when they had to. I give them a lot of credit. They lost a lot of key players from last year and plugged in the holes."

St. Charles East had the final pair of champions as the its first doubles team, Connor Anderson and Luke Winters, complemented the Downing victory at third singles with a straight-sets win at Elgin.

"I was trying to play consistently, not forcing things and trying to play laid-back tennis," Downing said. "My serve was really on, and I was playing good defensive shots."

Larry DeHaan bid adieu to his combined 22-year regular-season coaching career at Streamwood and Elgin on Saturday.

Ironically, the DeHaan-guided Maroons held off Streamwood to finish fifth overall.

The Maroons' first doubles team of Josh Hegal and Andy Chai won the major consolation title at home.

"Anyone of the five (first doubles) teams (St. Charles East, Batavia, Elgin, Geneva and St. Charles North) could have won the tournament," DeHaan said. "We have some kids who are really developing. I think we have won the respect of a lot of teams."

Larkin senior Miguel Mendoza was the lone Royal to win any points for the team this weekend.

"The season overall was hard," Larkin coach Kevin Schillerstrom said. "This weekend was almost harder. What we are trying aiming to do at Larkin tennis is not necessarily to win but to get better."