Boys tennis: Barrington nets fifth straight MSL title

Barrington opened strong and finished the same way Saturday afternoon, overwhelming the field en route to a its fifth consecutive Mid-Suburban League boys tennis championship.

Sophomore Dylan Er jump-started the Broncos by winning the first of six titles, his at No. 2 singles. His teammate, freshman Bradley Yu, ended the three-day tournament with a three-set victory to claim top honors at No. 1.

Coach John Roncone's team totaled 61 points, 20 more than runner-up Conant (41) which finished 3 points clear of MSL East champ Prospect, which rounded out the top three with 38 points. Fremd was fourth with 37, with Hersey next at 28.

"Obviously we're very proud of this team after its performance this weekend to help us earn our fifth straight conference championship, and we're also quite optimistic that with such a young team, we'll be in a position to add a few more in the coming years," said Roncone.

Yu, and his finals opponent, Vera Iyer of Conant, were the last match of the tournament to finish at tourney host Palatine.

After dropping the first set 7-5, Yu rebounded nicely by winning the next two, 6-3, 6-0, to give the No. 1 seed his first MSL title.

"It's really cool to win as a freshmen, and to be a part of a team championship as well," said Yu, who said he allowed Iyer to dictate the tempo and pace in the first. "I kind of turned that around in my favor in that second set, and that's what helped give me the momentum that I needed in that third set."

A marvelous passing shot with Iyer coming to the net allowed Yu to register his second service break of the third set to send him on his way.

State qualifiers Markos Christoforou (Elk Grove) and Daniel Lee of Hoffman Estates, were the third- and fourth-place medal winners at No. 1 singles.

Er, who handled the No. 1 chores a year ago for the Broncos, was never challenged, conceding just three games total, two of which came in his final against Hersey senior Aidan Burke.

"I felt really good from the very start, and especially against Aidan where I was able to dictate points, and not allow him to do so," said Er, who went 3-2 a year ago in his first appearance at the state tournament.

"Dylan has really improved from last year, but he told me the same about my game, which is something I really appreciated," said Burke, whose second-place finish was the best for the Huskies this weekend.

Senior Grant Bernero became a three-time MSL champ when he won in straight-sets to claim his trophy at No. 3, giving the Broncos a clean sweep of singles.

Bernero's freshman teammates at No. 1 doubles, Matt D'Amore/Arjan Sharma, helped the cause with their 6-3, 6-0 victory over Nico Rosas/Michael Kim of Conant to earn their first big trophy.

"We struggled last time we played Conant and lost in three sets, so to come back today to beat them in the final feels great," said Sharma.

"That first set was a real grind, but when we held a couple of times and broke them, things turned around in our favor for good," said D'Amore.

Rosas, who was an MSL champ at No. 2 doubles last spring, will be reunited with Kaahan Motwani next weekend at sectionals while the same will occur for Kim and his doubles partner at No. 2, Arjun Rao.

With Motwani gone for this weekend, Conant coach Dave Koleno tweaked his doubles lineup, and watched Rosas/Kim come darn close to an MSL title.

In the other doubles flights, too, Barrington dominated. The Broncos earned three more first-place trophies, save for the title won at No. 4 by the team of Jason Gong/Alex Weseman of Prospect.

Weseman, who was second a year ago with a different partner, made the jump along with Gong after a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Barrington's Rohan Ahuja/Chris Winkler.

Steven Levy, who won his MSL crown a year ago at No. 3 doubles, did so again on Saturday, this season with another player, Suven Sinha.

Sophomore Kyle Shuff made it two straight MSL titles when he and junior Joe Wolff registered a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Advay Mahajan/Vansh Rai of Fremd, who upended the No. 2 seed from Prospect to advance into the final.

"We had a little case of nerves at the start of both of our sets, but after we settled down, we were able to take advantage of our serves, and a few service breaks to get the win," said Shuff, who along with Cam Holzman won at No. 1 doubles.

East Suburban Catholic: St. Viator finished with 39 points to take a runner-up finish in the ESCC tournament hosted by champion Benet (56).