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Boys tennis: Patriots stay in 2A trophy picture

Stevenson's dream of a top-three finish in the Class 2A boys tennis state tournament is still alive as the action heads to a third and final day of play.

The Patriots remain in the chase, 6 points off the pace set by tourney leader Naperville Central (24 points), and just 4 back from third-place Glenbrook North when the action is scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. Saturday.

"We knew we could be in the backdraw at this point of the tournament, so we're going to go out and fight as best as we can to try and pick up as many points as we can, and see were that puts us in the end," said Patriots coach Tom Stanhope, who will lean on Sam Komis at singles and the top team of Matt Harvey/Brian Weisberg at doubles.

"I thought we played very well today," said Weisberg. "It's just that Edwardsville (Alex Gray/Zach Trimpe) might be the best doubles team in the state."

Harvey/Weisberg lost 6-2, 6-2 in their second-day opener to the No. 1 seed before bouncing back with a pair of impressive straight-set wins.

"This is it for both Matt and I, and we would like nothing more than to come out of this tournament with not only a state medal, but also a state trophy as well," Weisberg said.

The Patriots duo, now 21-6, will be at Buffalo Grove on Saturday to face 3-4 seed Highland Park.

Komis (28-5), who was on match point at Wheeling with Will Zordani (Lake Forest) before the rain came, will finish off the Scouts' standout before joining the Harvey-Weisberg team at BG.

Wauconda junior Brian Hackman (30-2) rebounded in style following a disappointing straight-set defeat on Friday morning to 3-4 Natan Spear (18-2) of Chicago Northside with two straight wins in the 1A backdraw to keep his medal hopes alive.

"I am very proud of how Brian really pulled it together after that third-round loss to Spear to give himself a real chance on the last day of the tournament," said Wauconda coach Ryan Whitfield.

Hackman next meets 9-16 seed Raymond Richardson of De La Salle at Rolling Meadows.

All consolation matches are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., while the championship rounds in both 1A and 2A will kick-off at 9 a.m. at tourney host Hersey.

Finals should start around noon.

The Libertyville team of Kenny Herrmann and Nathan Valley were eliminated in the third round of the backdraw, while the Vernon Hills duo of Matt Nguyen/Nikhil Mangtani (19-9) were eliminated in the 1A tournament, also in the third round.

Late on the first day of competition, Antioch junior Kyle Boudreau (26-12) was ousted after his second appearance here, both of which nearly saw the Sequoits' top man nearly reach 30 wins in a season.

Kevin Eberhardt/Max Brito of Schaumburg went one day farther than a year ago after the Saxons (24-10) duo went 2-2 in their state tourney effort.

"The last half of our season was a memorable one, and for Max and I to play into the second day (and after playing on our home courts on Thursday) is something both of us will remember," said Eberhardt, who will attend Illinois next fall, where he will major in computer science.

Barrington freshman Bradley Yu was also 2-2 in his first visit here, to end his rookie season at a very respectable 22-8.

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