Boys tennis: Results favor Galvin, Meyers at Pitchford 32

There was much to be learned Saturday morning even though rain washed away much of the second day of boys tennis invitational action at the Tom Pitchford 32.

Mack Galvin, for instance, will be in the conversation for a top-four seed in four weeks when the state tournament committee gets together on that final Thursday of the month of May.

Galvin's straight-set quarterfinal victory over 3-4 seed Jacob Edelchik (Highland Park) in Arlington Heights will go a long way after his impressive 90-minute performance. The expected weather front came through after that and ended things for good at tourney host Hersey and three other nearby venues.

"This was a very good win for me," said Galvin of his 6-1, 6-4 victory over Edelchik, who one week earlier lost to Brett Meyers of Neuqua Valley in the final of the Jay Kramer Invite. That result helped Meyers to the No. 2 seed in the 32.

"I got off to the type of start in this match to win my first match," said Galvin, "but Jacob is such a great player. So I knew I had to just hit my shots and stay composed when he made his run at me in that second set, and it all came together for me."

Galvin(19-0) needed just under 30 minutes to put his first-set triumph in the books, using an arsenal of weapons, including a high first-percentage serve to keep the Giants' top player from getting into any kind of rhythm.

"My first serve in the second set wasn't as strong," said Galvin, who fell behind 3-2 in the second set after Edelchik held serve. "But I felt like I elevated my game when I needed to in order to come out of this match with the win."

Should everything hold firm the rest of the regular season, Galvin would likely join top seed Vuk Budic (Deerfield), Mark Wu (Glenbrook North) and Meyers as the four top state tourney seeds after each advanced into the 32 semifinals.

Meyers (17-1) would have met Galvin in the semis after topping Naperville Central's Ryan Roegner 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Meyer defeated Roegner in three sets during a DuPage Valley Conference dual earlier in the season.

"I had a little bit of a rough start (Friday), missing a lot of shots I shouldn't have against (Jack) Bernstein (Lyons Township)," said Meyers. "But I picked things up early in the second set and was much better the rest of the way, which carried into today's match with Ryan, who is a very good player."

Roegner, a sophomore, was impressed by the quality of Meyers' play.

"Brett is a tough opponent," said Roegner, who is 16th in the current USTA Midwest rankings. "He doesn't miss many shots, and he makes you hit your shots. And today I had a lot of unforced errors, and that's not going to work against a player like Brett."

Budic was clearly the best at No. 1 singles over the two days of play. The Deerfield senior flashed some of that brilliance in his quarterfinal match with New Trier senior Michael Kusznerko.

"My game plan is to mix things up to ensure that my opponents are unable to get any advantage, and today I felt like I did that pretty well against Kusznerko," said Budic, who came over from Ireland after spending his first six years of his life in Champaign, where his mother was a college professor at Illinois. "I feel like I've been able to make a nice transion here in the states, both academically and with my tennis, and I couldn't be happier at Deerfield for my final year of high school."

Budic (11-0) will attend Wake Forest next fall, where he will play for the nationally ranked 2016 ACC champs.

At No. 2 singles, Bill Zhang of Naperville Central (11-1) cruised in his lone contest of the day with a straight-set 6-0, 6-0 win over Bert Cao (Libertyville) before his day came to an end.

At Buffalo Grove in No. 1 doubles, both Downers Grove South (Christian SanAndres/Zach Wood) and Stevenson (Matt Harvey/Brian Wesiberg) were bounced from the front draw.

Downers Grove South lost in three sets to Highland Park (Brenden Lew/Jeremy Learner) 6-3, 1-6, 1-6, while the Patriots duo dropped a straight-set match to No. 2 seed Austin Klapman/Nick Marino (Glenbrook North) 6-1, 6-3.

"We knew we didn't match up well with GBN, but I had hoped we could have given them a little better of a match," said Stevenson coach Tom Stanhope.

The Patriots' No. 2 team, Ben Bush/Sam Komis fared much better at Rolling Meadows with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory over Deerfield.

"We've been getting better each time out we're getting to know each other better, while finding out what the other guy can do in certain situations," said Bush, a three-time state qualifier, twice at singles.

Julian Janczak/Hayden Friese of Libertyville advanced into the consolation final at No. 2 doubles until the rains came, while Jacobs' No. 1 doubles team, Kendrick and Kerwin Chong, won their lone match of the day in the backdraw.

Teammates Kailish Panchapakesan (No. 1 singles) and Riley Rowan (No. 2 singles) did well for themselves, with the three-time state qualifier Panchapakesan reaching the consolations semifinals and Rowan the consolation finals at No. 2.