Gritty Galvin earns third straight state tourney berth

Sometimes a single tennis match is just one blip among a multitude of matchups during the season.

At other times, it can change the course of the rest of the season.

Such as in the Deerfield sectional, with its all-star singles and doubles cast. Play began at 1 p.m. Friday, and almost six and a half hours later, Mack Galvin won a nearly three-hour marathon epic over Nick Zazove of Highland Park to advance into the state tournament next weekend, earning himself a third consecutive trip.

The Rolling Meadows junior outlasted Zazove, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5) when it looked as though he was down and nearly out. The Mid-Suburban League three-time champ had to rebound from a second-set ankle injury to survive this thriller.

"I was going to play this match out until I couldn't stand anymore - and maybe on one leg, if I had to," said an exhausted Galvin (30-2) who sustained a left ankle injury when he landed awkwardly after an overhead smash at 5-6 in the second set.

"I didn't know what I did exactly, but I wasn't able to put any weight on it at all after that return, and at that moment, it didn't look good for me," said Galvin, who is scheduled to play Mark Wu (9-5) of Glenbrook North Saturday morning in a 9 a.m. semifinal at Deerfield.

After nearly using up all of the allotted 10-minute injury time, a taped Galvin gingerly walked out and pushed the set into a tie-breaker, which Zazove (16-8) easily won to set up and third and final set.

Both players held serve all the way through until the Giants' star broke in game No. 11 - but Galvin broke back despite falling behind love-40 to set up yet another tiebreaker.

"It's kind of funny, but after the injury, and as the match went into the third set, I didn't even really feel (the) ankle - and I felt like I was getting stronger as that third set kept going on and on," said Galvin. "I just knew I had to grind it out if I wanted to be playing next week."

It went back-and-forth in the tiebreaker, with Zazove first ahead at 3-0 before a composed Galvin fired back to draw even at 4-4 and then take the lead with a big serve.

Zazove once again got the lead, but an emphatic overhead at the net from Galvin finally ended things for good and brought the big crowd to its feet in appreciation of these two superb players.

"Nick is a great player, and he played with a lot of class and great sportsmanship, and it's too bad that both of us can't be playing next week at the state tournament," said Galvin, who will ice and relax, then wait to see how his ankle responds in the morning before a decision is made on his semifinal with Wu.

"That was an incredible match between two fantastic players, who didn't give an inch to either one, and right now, I am so proud of Mack and how he fought and and played his way into the state tournament," said Rolling Meadows coach Gary Brodnan.

The Zazove defeat, along with a loss in doubles by its No. 2 team, dealt the Giants a setback in their bid to make a serious run at a top-three team finish at state. Likewise for Glenbrook North, which saw its No. 2 singles (Nick Marino) and No. 2 doubles team eliminated.

Marino (21-5) fell in straight sets to Noah Rosenblat (Deerfield, 19-7) to join top seed Jacob Edelchik (Highland Park, 13-4), Wu and Galvin on the state tourney guest list. In doubles, Glenbrook North's David Zakhodin/Miguel Perez (24-0) all but locked up a state 1-2 seed after dominating a pair of opponents on their way to the semifinals; they'll meet Glenbrook South's Gavin/Bryce McClanahan for the sectional title.

Niko Wasilewicz/Chris Casati (Deerfield, 23-3) breezeed into the semis on Friday and next face Highland Park's Max Gordon/David Aizenberg (17-5).

"We realize this is a big weekend for us as far as how the seeding goes at state, but we haven't really paid attention to it leading up to sectionals - instead our focus has been to just get better each time out, and the rest will all take care of itself," said Wasilewicz.

First- and-third place matches will take place on the Warriors home courts around noon today.

at Cary-Grove: It appears to be a two-team race at this sectional venue, with Mid-Suburban League and Fox Valley Conference champions Barrington and Prairie Ridge battling it out.

Both team have all four teams still alive in the championship bracket when play resumes, with state-qualifying matches set to start at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Ishaan Jaglan (21-6) and Mohammed Walji (24-3) are in the thick of things at singles for Barrington, while the Prairie Ridge duo of Hayden Dzurisin and Patrick Nasta will be competing for a berth in the state tournament as well.

Jaglan will meet freshman Ian Brzeski of Marian Central, while Walji takes on the Trojans' top player, Kyle Venet, who enters the match with a 19-6 overall record.

In doubles, top seed Scott Apmann/Matt Mulligan of Barrington qualified for state, as did the Broncos team of Zach Hennefent/Vijay Tripuraneni (17-3), who next meet Cary-Grove's JP Dudley/Brett Meyer.

The host Trojans will also have a chance with their No. 1 doubles team of Kevin Budreck/Mitch Kedzior (16-8). They stayed alive on Friday after a three-set win over Crystal Lake South's Brandon Bochat/Andy Park 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

"So far, so good for us. But Saturday will tell the story for us at day's end," said Barrington coach John Roncone.

at Schaumburg: Dave Koleno was all smiles late Friday after guiding both of his doubles teams into the state tournament from the Schaumburg sectional on Friday.

Top seed Matt Meyers/Glenn Huang (17-6) left little doubt as to who would come out of the top half of the bracket after convincing straight set victories, while teammates Niko Rosas/Nikhil Modak played follow-the-leader with a pair of straight-set wins to secure their first trip to the state tourament.

"With a little bit of luck, it will be an all-Conant doubles final," said Koleno, whose club is the only one here with at least two entrants in Saturday's semis, scheduled for 8:30 a.m.

"Our singles guys just missed when they each lost their state qualifying match, but they gave us valuable team points, and that's important as well," Koleno would add. "It's been a very good year for these guys, so it's nice to see everyone making a contribution all season long, and at this sectional thus far."

The MSL did well at singles, sending two more into the tournament, beginning with Elk Grove's Markus Christoforou and freshman Daniel Lee of Hoffman Estates, who finished third last weekend at the MSL tourney at No. 2 singles.

Sophomore Chris Veltkamp (Streamwood, 25-5) showed why he was anointed the No. 1 seed following a splendid day of play, highlighted by two straight-set victories to secure his first-ever state appearance.

"He just dominated out there today," said Sabres coach Jeff Szukala of his top player, who fell in his state qualifying match to Elisa Hougland of Hampshire, 6-4, 6-2 last spring.

Veltkamp becomes the first Streamwood player to advance since Yuto Tsukida in 2009.

at Stevenson: It was all Stevenson as the Patriots zeroed in on another sectional team title after sending all four of its entrants into Saturday's 9 a.m. semifinals, having already qualified ot the state tourney.

Colin Harvey (15-8) and Brian Weisberg (19-10) are in, as is the doubles teams of Matt Harvey/Adam Maryniuk (21-8) and Benjamin Bush-James Cheng (19-4), who last week won a No. 2 NSC doubles crown.

"Everything kind of went to plan out here today, and now we'll see how things shake down for us at state after the semifinals and finals," said Patriots coach Tom Stanhope after a relatively calm day on the courts at the Vernon Hills Athletic Center.

Harvey-Maryniuk will face upstart Libertyville's Michael Gasick/Julian Janczak, who advanced following a 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over the Palatine duo of David Chon/Mark Scovic. Bush/Cheng meet East Suburban Catholice Conference runner-up Michael Butler/Kevin Hunt (29-2) of Carmel in the other semi. Hunt qualified last year for the Corsairs at singles.

In singles, the one-two punch of senior Ben VanDixhorn (22-0) and sophomore Stefano Tsorotiotis (8-0) met with little resistance in earning semifinal berths. VanDixhorn next meets Weisberg, while Tsorotiotis faces Harvey.