Boys state tennis: Montini's Batka brothers advance past Wheaton Academy doubles pair
Montini brothers and tennis doubles partners Thomas and David Batka have known Wheaton Academy's Devin Greeno for years, all having trained at the Rush Copley Healthplex in Aurora.
At Prospect High School in Mt. Prospect, one of several host sites for the boys tennis state finals, they were together again Thursday along with Greeno's partner, Tristan Hilson.
Both teams started fast.
Seeded 3-4 in Class 1A doubles, 6-foot-6 senior Thomas Batka and sophomore David swept their first-round opponents, from Ottawa, 6-0, 6-0.
Unseeded Greeno-Hilson, flashing quick hands at the net, opened with a 6-2, 6-1 win over a Chatham Glenwood duo.
The Batka brothers defeated Greeno and Hilson 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.
"The first match we started off a little shaky in the beginning, but as the match progressed we played tennis and finished the job. Second match, we knew this was going to be a tough match, they were going to play," Hilson said of the fist-bumping Batkas.
The Montini boys quickly learned the same.
"Very early on in the match, we both hit like four overheads at them and they just kept getting it back, getting it back," said Thomas Batka, whose serve has been clocked at 110 mph. "We finally got one away. It's like, this is going to be a tough match, we've got to focus in and we've got to play well."
The first set was paused after Greeno aggravated a right groin injury he suffered at the Hinsdale South sectional.
"The first match I was feeling pretty good on it," he said, "and then there was another running shot that I had to do a sudden stop so I didn't run into the fence and I just retweaked it. From there the more I was on it the worse it felt."
It's a fine line taking advantage of an injured athlete, a line the Batkas tried not to cross.
"I wouldn't say that we targeted him, in a way," Thomas said. "I'd say that might have been the last shot, maybe."
His partner ailing, Hilson stepped up. Wheaton Academy rallied from a 5-2 first-set deficit before falling 6-4 with Thomas Batka twice finishing at the net.
"Due to his injury I had to take the initiative and be more active and ready," said Hilson, like Greeno just a sophomore.
The second set was a dogfight early. Wheaton Academy led 3-2 before the Batkas (10-0) roared back to win the next four games. David Batka held serve and his brother ended it on a smash to win 6-3.
"It just seems like the volleys, get those in and we're good," said David Batka, he and his brother advancing in the championship bracket against Prairie Ridge's Daniel Lamar and Patrick Nasta, 8 a.m. Friday at Palatine.
"They had a tough test in that Wheaton Academy team," said Montini coach Don Krystof. "Looking at the players they had they definitely, I thought, deserved a seed also in the doubles match."
Staying alive in the consolation bracket, Greeno-Hilson (27-5) beat a Dixon pair 6-1, 6-1 to face Peoria Richwoods' Abe Saxena and Sid Saxena at 8 a.m. Friday at Conant. As a group, Wheaton Academy's 15 points led all of Class 1A after Thursday.
"Even with the injury," Hilson said, "Devin still pushed through it, we did the best we could and gave them a hard fight. And this final match, with the injury going on we just wanted to make sure we keep each other feeling positive, and we just did it."