Stevenson looking tough in tennis tourney
So far, so good for Stevenson.
The Patriots march confidently into the second day of the IHSA boys state tennis tournament and into the Round of 32 not only with both singles player and both doubles teams alive and well, but also tied atop the leader board with defending champion Hinsdale Central -- both schools with 24 points.
Patriots senior Chris Speer, who during the past two weeks has been sitting in the front row of the roller-coaster and enjoying a wonderful ride each time, survived a scary second-round match. He then defeated the big serve of Dundee-Crown's Mike Williamson to stay alive in today's championship round.
Teammates Alan Pukshansky and Nick Stephan, seated just behind Speer on that same ride, enjoyed a pair of easy wins in early-round matches. Then they were pushed to the brink in Round 3 against Barrington's No. 1 team of Matt Barns-Alex Nemz before taking the match in three sets on a tiebreaker.
Blake Bazarnik (26-3), seeded 3-4, and 5-8 seeds Ross Putterman-David Packowitz (29-2) took control in all three of their matches to book spots in the round of 32, which begins today at 9 a.m. In championship action, host Hersey is the site for all singles matches and Prospect the venue for doubles.
No. 2 seed Denis Bogatov of Warren dispatched a trio of victims to improve to 29-2. He'll face 17-32 seed Luke Ginsberg of North Shore Country Day.
Bogatov's mates at doubles, Igor Fedorov-Konrad Siczek fell in the third round to 9-16 seed Champaign Centennial and will now look to make a run in the backdraw, which for the Warren co-captains begins at 8 a.m. at Fremd.
"Senior experience and all those close matches that Chris has played (of) late really helped him get through that second-round match (against Highland Park's David Zak, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4)," said Patriots assistant coach Jeff Zanchelli, a three-time state qualifier and 2002 state medalist. "But in that third-round match, you could see how much more energy (Chris) had and was ready to go, even after being pushed against Zak."
The 9-16 seed took little time to put away 17-32 seed Williamson (30-1) in the second set after coming back from a 5-3 deficit, and with the four-time state qualifier owning one of the biggest serves in the tournament.
Speer drew even at 5-5 after Williamson failed to convert a 40-15 lead for the set and never looked back.
"Coach (Zanchelli) told me on a couple of the changeovers to begin to move (Williamson) from side to side because he felt (he) wouldn't be able to keep up and eventually would wear down," said Speer (25-3), who went ahead for good in the second set after winning a long Game 3, which included 3 deuce points to set up a 6-1 victory.
Pukshansky-Stephan forced a few gray hairs for Pats assistant Tom Stanhope, but the extra color was well worth it when the duo defeated Barrington.
In front 5-3 in the third set, Barrington came at the Pats hard as the Broncos fought off 4 match points to eventually draw even at 5-5, then going ahead 6-5.
"Credit Barrington," Stanhope said. "Their first-serve percentage was amazing and really kept us on the ropes, but our guys just didn't let up and stepped-up in a big way."
Bazarnik will face will face 9-16 seed and four-time state qualifier Drew Feder (26-4) of Belleville East at 9 a.m. today at Hersey.
The Putterman-Packowitz tandem meets 9-16 Hinsdale Central (Josh Sink-Paul Cooper) at Prospect.
Warren assistant Jeff Bernales liked what he saw of Bogatov, who lost just three games on the day after opening with 6-0, 6-0 victories in his first two matches.
"Denis began a little tight, but once he found his rhythm and got a feel for (his) game, he looked terrific," Bernales said.
Carmel's No. 1 team of Andrew Buchholz-Chris Butler (27-6) are still alive, albeit in the back draw following an opening-round victory over Rockford Guilford.
After that win, the Corsairs' duo fell to 17-32 Naperville Central 6-3, 6-4, but they came back to win two more matches and guarantee another day of tennis.
Lakes' Charlie Scupham-Justin Shea were not as fortunate as they lost their opener to Crystal Lake Central, as did Warren junior Jon Donnowitz at singles.