Huskies prevail in balanced field

Winning the team sectional championship wasn't even part of the Naperville North gameplan, but that's exactly what the Huskies did Saturday.

With Matt Walters and Yasufumi Terada winning the doubles title and Reid Mutschler qualifying for state in the singles bracket, the Huskies took home the gold in the Naperville North sectional, in one of the most balanced fields in memory.

"These boys had such a fantastic season," said coach Heather Henricksen of Naperville North. "We didn't even talk about winning the sectional. We just tried to make sure to get everyone prepared and get them qualified for state."

The six teams that finished in double figures in team points all qualified at least one singles player or doubles team for the state tournament that begins Thursday. The first four singles and the first four doubles in the sectional qualify for state.

Walters and Terada's 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 finals victory over Naperville Central's Neal Walters and Kevin Bauman clinched the title for the Huskies giving them 20 points for the tournament.

The Redhawks, who a week ago edged the Huskies for the DuPage Valley Conference (DVC) championship, finished in a second-place tie with Wheaton Warrenville South with 16 points. Benet and Glenbard South were tied at 13 and St. Francis scored 10.

Jimmy Li of Wheaton Warrenville South won the singles final on a default when St. Francis' Kyle Dawson had to retire due to a hip flexor injury, with Li ahead 5-4 in their first set.

"It's real unfortunate that this happened," said Li. "Every time I play Kyle I know I have to pick up my game a level in order to play him. I have lots of respect for him and I hope he'll be able to play next week."

According to St. Francis coach Marcia Bussey, Dawson, who suffered the same injury early in the season, was going for X-rays Saturday to help determine if he will be able to play at state.

"There was no way Kyle could have continued," Bussey said. "But give credit to Jimmy, who's always such a great opponent. They were both playing great throughout this tournament."

For the Walters-Terada duo, which was the No. 1 seed, the finals against Naperville Central was a rubber-match with the teams splitting their first two contests this season.

"We play them so much," said Matt Walters. "It's a great feeling to win against them. They played us so tough in the first set. We had to come back from set point twice. But once we won that tiebreaker we knew we would win the second set."

"This is an unbelievable feeling," said Terada. "This is such a great sectional with so many great players. This gives us a lot of confidence going into state."

Pat Clark of Glenbard South took third place in the sectional and qualified for his fourth straight trip to the state tournament.

"I have fun here every year," said Clark, who sports a 20-3 record. "This is probably the deepest sectional I've been in. It would be cool if I could make it to Saturday at state."

Benet's doubles teams both qualified for state with the team of Tim Martin and Mark Angel winning the third-place match over their teammates Matt Schutt and Mike Savino 6-2, 6-0.

"It's a great feeling for both teams to have qualified," Schutt said. "We just wanted to get there."