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Boys tennis: Zhang, Naperville Central back on top of DVC

Both Naperville Central singles standout Bill Zhang and his Redhawks teammates came up just short at last year's DuPage Valley Conference boys tennis tournament. This time around they returned to the top of the field and did so in dominating fashion.

Zhang, a junior, claimed top honors at first singles without dropping a set this weekend at Waubonsie Valley, battling cold, windy conditions Saturday while knocking off Wheaton North's Kevin Li 7-6, 6-0 in the championship. Zhang, who won the DVC crown as a freshman, was one of four singles champs for the Redhawks, who also grabbed a pair of doubles titles.

"It feels good. I won it freshman year but I got second last year. It's good to be back as champion," said Zhang, who held serve every game on Saturday while improving to 13-1 this spring.

Both players held serve back and forth as the first set stayed even at 6-6. Zhang rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the tiebreaker to take the opening set and then finish off the Falcons freshman with an impressive showing in the second set.

"I thought Kevin played really well today," said Zhang, who finished top 32 at state in 2015. "Obviously it's windy and tough conditions. It's like a really big mental boost to grind it out in these conditions. It gives you more confidence heading into sectionals and hopefully state."

Li, now 18-5 on the year, was happy to make Zhang work hard in the first set. He had dropped a 6-3, 6-3 match to the Naperville Central star during the regular season.

"I was really happy," he said. "I hoped it would be closer this time and it was definitely an improvement. Even though I lost I'm happy with the way I played. It's still encouraging."

The Redhawks piled up 73 points to claim their fourth DVC title in five years. Last year's champion, Naperville North, took second at 49 points, with Neuqua Valley third at 47.5.

"I'm happy with the way we have competed all year. This was the best finish we've ever had in terms of the conference," Redhawks coach Dan Brown said. "We just dropped four matches the whole (conference) season and this conference has a lot of good teams now with the addition of the Valleys. So for us to walk away as champs this year is something special for the guys."

Ryan Roegner at No. 2, Nathaniel Chavez at No. 3 and Alex Zhao at No. 4 all won singles titles for the Redhawks, who also took first at second and third doubles.

The only title that eluded Naperville Central was No. 1 doubles, where Wheaton Warrenville South's fourth-seeded team of Jack Lillig and Charlie McDonough knocked off top-seeded Naperville North in three sets in the semifinals and then prevailed over the Redhawks 7-6, 6-3 in the title match.

"It was a great win. Tough tennis out there and we pulled out some wins," Lillig said after he and McDonough claimed their first DVC championship. "We knew we had some tough competition out there, but we knew we could do it so I was happy to get the win."

McDonough knows the DVC title can only help with his team's confidence and seeding heading into the upcoming Naperville North sectional.

"We had some matches earlier that we felt we should have won, so today it was nice to get the victory," the Tigers doubles player said.

"For sectional seeds it will help a lot, so that's nice."

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