Boys tennis: Roegner, Naperville Central still in contention
Ryan Roegner has one foot into the Class 2A final following his thrilling three-set victory Friday afternoon in Arlington Heights.
The Naperville Central junior, anointed the 3-4 seed in advance of the tournament, outlasted 5-8 seed Mark Wu of Glenbrook North 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) to not only keep his trophy hopes alive but also that of his Redhawks teammates, who enter the final day of play one-point ahead of New Trier, 24-23.
"That's what it's all about right now, helping the team and myself, and with that win over Mark I was able to get us four big points, while moving a little closer to playing for a state championship tomorrow afternoon," Roegner said.
The Naperville Central star will meet big-hitting 5-8 seed Danilo Kovacevic (34-2) of Maine South in a 9 a.m. Saturday semifinal at Hersey High School.
In the top half of this singles bracket, it will be No. 1 Jacob Edelchik (26-1) of Highland Park vs. Jeffrey Chen from New Trier.
DuPage County fans have another club in the hunt for a state title, with Benet right there in the Class 1A tournament. Latin and Dunlap ended the day with 22 points apiece. Benet has 21.
Naperville Central doubles partners Bill Zhang and Martin Matov gave No. 1 Alex Gray and Zach Trimpe of Edwardsville all they could handle before falling in a third-set tiebreaker.
Hinsdale Central has all three of its teams still alive, with just a few from the area in a fight for a state medal after sent into the backdraw.
Among them is the Naperville North doubles team of Kirk Williams and Sam Liu. They will face New Trier's Reed Bianucci and Jake Zipoli on Saturday at Buffalo Grove, in addition to Waubonsie Valley's Anthony Nguyen.
Benet remains close thanks in part to its ESCC championship team of Danny McGuigan and Casey Scrader, who after recording three consecutive straight-set victories, needed a third set to stay in the front draw after its win over Normal U-High's John Friesen and Carter Burk.
Next up for the 9-16 seed is 3-4 seed Steve Chacko and David Wu of Dunlap, who enter at 24-5 overall.
ESCC singles runner-up, Patrick McGuigan (35-5) looks to bounce back from his third-round loss to No. 2 Nick Meister of Latin when he plays David Wolf of Elmwood Park at Rolling Meadows.
"It was kind of crazy first two sets with each of us winning (6-1), but at the end of that second set, I felt leg cramps coming on (and) that, along with a little fatigue, plus some very good play from Nick proved to be the difference," the Benet senior said.
"We're still in the race for a state trophy, and I'm really excited for my brother, and Casey his partner, so the three of us need to go out and keep earning points for the cause."
Also in Class 1A, both Wheaton Academy's Ty Krill and Owen Setran are in the middle of a long backdraw run, as is the team from Timothy Christian, Nathan Daniels and Trevor Hoogendoom.
Joe and Jeff Andrews from Fenton fell short of joining their counterparts when they lost in the fifth round of consolation. The Bison went 3-2 for the tournament.