BG's Schwartz keeps rolling

Jonah Schwartz served notice to the state singles field that his pre-tournament 5-8 seed is a worthy one.

The Buffalo Grove senior polished off a trio of opponents on Thursday on his home courts -- including upstart Robert Dunn of North Shore Country Day in the third round -- to book his place in today's 9 a.m. Round of 16 match against 9-16 Chase Klaus (30-2) of Peoria Richwoods at tournament host Hersey.

A victory over the four-time state qualifier Klaus would advance the Mid-Suburban League champion into quarterfinal play -- and one step closer to elite status.

"I never worried or thought about where I would be seeded, because it was more important to concentrate on what I had control over, rather than what I didn't," said Schwartz, who captured 3 straight-sets victories and is 26-6 this spring.

"It feels real good to get through the day without having any long, three-set matches, because I am already tired and sore," joked Schwartz, who returned to the Bison after taking off the last two seasons to improve his game on the club and tournament circuit.

Schwartz said that Dunn was a difficult opponent, one who may have deserved a higher seed than his 17-32 selection after not allowing Schwartz to attack and dictate the pace of their match.

However, after taking the first set 6-1, Schwartz broke Dunn to go up 5-3 in a terrific game which included an exchange of 4 drop shots -- a pair by each player -- at the net, the final drop by Dunn going just wide.

Schwartz held serve to win the match.

"Jonah seems to be peaking at the right time of the year," said BG coach Kevin Schrammel, after his star player cruised past Ryan Kunz of Downers Grove North and Galesburg senior Austin Meeker while dropping just four games in the process.

Andrew Rice, a four-year star, two-time state qualifier and two-time East Suburban Catholic Conference champion fell short of joining Schwartz in today's championship round when the St. Viator senior dropped a tough 6-4, 7-5 match to 9-16 seed Michael Jacobs of Oak Park-River Forest late Thursday afternoon at the Lions' home court of Forest View.

With the loss, Rice (26-6) fell into the backdraw at Wheeling to face Yosh Patel of Bartlett at 8 a.m. today

"That three-set match in my second match (with Francesco Venafro) took a lot out of me," said Rice, who eventually defeated the Oswego senior 7-6 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-3. "I didn't think I would have much against (Jacobs) but I thought I played very well against a state ranked player, and it really turned out to be a good loss anyway."

Rice has made his mark during a superb career, which has included perhaps his most proud individual moment -- back-to-back state appearances -- as well as the Lions' first-ever ESCC titlist two weeks ago.

"Andrew is such a great kid, and someone who has made so much to our program while he's been here," said first-year Lions coach Dan Tripamer. "He is so supportive of everyone in our program, even at the frosh-soph level, and always has a big smile on his face."

The Northwestern-bound Rice graduated with a weighted cumulative GPA of 100.27 out of 100 and has become a real student of the game, according to Tripamer.

With his 2 victories Thursday, Rice boasts a 107-19 career record.

Barrington seniors Matt Barns-Andrew Nemz had hopes of reaching the Round of 32 in doubles until the Stevenson tandem of Alan Pukshansky-Nick Stephan ruined that dream.

The 17-32 Broncos (21-5) played solid tennis in all three matches, but they fell in a heartbreaking third-set tie-breaker to the 9-16 Patriots (24-4). The Stevenson duo will face 5-8 Dave Robere-Nick Kenaga of Lyons today at 9 a.m. at Prospect.

"The Barrington team deserves a lot of credit with the way they played us, they really had us on the ropes," said Stevenson assistant coach Tom Stanhope.

Stanhope was referring to a critical part of the match which saw the Broncos rally from a 5-3 third-set deficit to eventually take the lead at 6-5 -- only to see it evaporate to force a tiebreaker. Once there, the Pats would win it all 7-5.

"Andrew (Nemz) was amazing, he fought off 4 match points to help keep us alive, but just couldn't get it down in that first set," said Barns, who will attend Miami of Ohio in the fall.

"Andrew and I have to concentrate on the backdraw and use the success of Fremd (Brian Piotrowski-John Rosencrans) from last year after they had that great run in the backdraw to earn all-state honors."

Barrington teammates David Martin-Greg Mulligan fell in their opener, as did the Rolling Meadows pair of Mark Sansait-Joe Kim, who had the unfortunate task of meeting 5-8 seed Stevenson (Ross Putterman-David Packowitz) in the first round.

The same result befell Owen Marsden-Ryan Kreis of Fremd.

The Prospect duo of Zack Adamovic-Jon Kiefer were first-round victors before a second-round loss to 17-32 Latin ended their championship run.

Latin was later upset by the unseeded Benet duo of Tim Martin-Mark Angel.

Schaumburg freshmen Izzi Balase (27-9) saw his rookie season end on a high note as he went 2-2 on the day, including a first-round victory and another in the backdraw.

"The experience (Izzi) gained today will go a long way in the development of his game for next year and beyond," said Saxons coach Jason Campbell.

Hersey is the site today of championship singles action, while doubles survivors will carry on at Prospect. Backdraw play will continue at four area sites

Saturday's semifinals will begin at 9 a.m. at Hersey, with finals scheduled to start around noon.