Boys tennis: Impressive second day for Barrington
The freshman trio of Bradley Yu, Matt D'Amore and Aryan Sharma helped Mid-Suburban West boys tennis champion Barrington get out to a nice start on the second day of the MSL tournament Friday.
The Broncos' top seeds at both No. 1 singles (Yu) and No. 1 doubles (D'Amore/Sharma) advanced easily on Friday, joining the rest of their teammates in staying alive across the five other flights.
All will continue to the semifinals, which are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Palatine.
Yu will face the No. 5 seed, Elk Grove's Markos Christoforou, while the Barrington doubles teammates take on No. 4 Prospect (Mike Stanford/Peter Velic).
On the other side of the bracket, it's Conant's No. 2 team (Rosas/Kim) versus No. 3 Justin Piotrowski/Chris Stavrou from Fremd.
"This will be our chance to avenge a straight-set loss to Conant earlier, plus give us some momentum heading into sectionals next week," said Piotrowski, a senior who along with Stavrou defeated No. 5 seed Hersey (Jace Coffaro/Jason Deans) 6-3, 6-3.
"I think we were both a little nervous with this being our first-ever conference tournament appearance, but we settled down after that first set and played much better afterward," said Sharma, who before this season had played singles for seven years until coach John Roncone paired his new first team together.
"As freshmen playing at No. 1, we play a lot of teams that are seniors, so the hurdle for us to overcome was adjusting to the pace, speed and power of opponents who are much older and stronger than us," D'Amore said.
The Broncos will next Velic/Mike Stanford (16-8) of Prospect.
Christoforou, one of the few seniors at No. 1 singles, had nothing but praise for his quarterfinal opponent, Hersey sophomore Kevin Mi, plus the rest of the field, most of which are either freshmen or sophomores.
"The future is bright at singles in the MSL, and that makes me very happy about tennis in our conference," said the Grens' top player. "Coming in as the No. 5 seed made me as hungry as I've ever been, and to get into the semifinals was a great feeling."
Another senior to keep an eye on during the final day of play will be Aidan Burke of Hersey.
The three-year varsity veteran has been the rock upon which the Huskies have built a successful run, which included back-to-back division titles in 2015 and 2016.
"Aidan is a terrific young man, who has been so committed to improving his game, while being a great leader," said Huskies coach Andy Walton.
The Lake Forest College-bound Burke flip-flopped with Mi and is the Huskies' No. 2 this weekend. Following a straight-set win on Friday, he moved closer to meeting top seed Dylan Er of Barrington in the finals.
"I switched tennis clubs during the off-season, and that move really helped boost my confidence heading into this season," said Burke, whose older brother Liam tried his best to convince him to follow him to Boston College next fall.
Burke, who will likely pursue a degree in business, with a minor in finance, created a Guitar and Ukulele Club at Hersey along with Liam and is a proud member of Hersey's Jazz Band as well.
Burke enjoyed the best finish in recent program history at the Pitchford 32-Team Invite, going 3-2 overall, to help his team to a 19th-place finish.
"There's been plenty of great memories since joining the varsity three years ago, but winning those two division titles and going downstate to play in the Edwardsville Invite, which brought this team together, is a real highlight for me," said Burke.