BG's Schwartz fights his way into medal contention
Day 2 at the IHSA boys state tennis tournament proved dangerous and costly for nearly every area player except Jonah Schwartz.
While the Buffalo Grove senior could not avoid a fourth-round slip on a banana peel against Chase Klaus of Peoria Richwoods, Schwartz was able to record a pair of victories in the backdraw and stay alive in the hunt for a fifth-place medal.
Schwartz (28-7) will meet 3-4 seed Michael Moore (29-5) of Glenbrook South at 8 a.m. today at Prospect.
Trouble found its way around the brackets for several top-seeded players at both singles and doubles.
Stevenson's 3-4 seed Blake Bazarnik failed to overcome Chicago Latin's 5-8 seed Mac McAnutly in a three-set match, and No. 2 seed Highland Park (Josh Berman-Tyler Manci) lost to Stevenson's 5-8 seed Ross Putterman-David Packowitz in straight sets.
A backdraw victory from Stevenson senior Chris Speer over New Trier's Ben Mirkin helped the Patriots hold a 34-33 lead over defending state champion Hinsdale Central in the team standings. New Trier (32) is third.
Schwartz admitted his early-morning match at cold and windy tournament host Hersey with Klaus was not one of his best of the season.
But his game perked up in the backdraw to defeat Mike Williamson (32-2), a big hitter from Dundee-Crown who was appearing in his fourth state tournament.
"He (Williamson) was deceiving, in that beside his serve, especially with the wind at his back," Schwartz said. "He was just a tough guy to break through on."
"To be honest, I was playing on pure adrenaline," said Williamson, who finished his career at D-C with 130 victories.
Schwartz had to endure Oak Park-River Forest's gritty Dan Vollman.
"I didn't want to go to another three-set match," Schwartz said.
It was a long three-set match that finally took down the top doubles team from Barrington -- Matt Barns-Alex Nemz -- who were beaten by giant killer and unseeded Benet (Tim Martin-Mark Angel) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The Redwings had defeated a pair of ranked teams on Day 1, then the 17-32 Broncos (22-6) and they nearly pushed top-seed Highland Park (Woldenberg-Barnett) to a third set Friday morning.
"Alex and I had a really good run this weekend, better than either of us has had in two previous trips (here)," Barns said. "We both feel very fortunate to be in the tournament and really do not have any regrets about the way we played in all of our matches."
St. Viator senior Andrew Rice failed to get past his first backdraw match.
At doubles, Fremd's Owen Marsden-Ryan Kreis managed a pair of victories over Danville and Sandburg before Oak Park-River Forest's No. 2 tandem ended their season.
Mark Sansait-Joe Kim of Rolling Meadows had a wonderful backdraw run, going 3-1 overall before falling to 17-32 seed Bobber Nelson-Mitch Osborne (Crystal Lake Central) 7-6 (8), 6-3.
Semifinal action begins today at 9 a.m. at Hersey, where No. 1 Eric Spector meets 5-8 Augie Bloom of Hinsdale Central and McAnulty faces No. 2 Denis Bogatov of Warren.
The aforementioned Stevenson doubles team will meet 3-4 seed Rockford Guilford (Scott Sherperdson-Danny Park), while No. 1 Highland Park (Ben Woldenberg-Sam Barnett) meets 3-4 New Trier (Brantner Jones-Robert Stineman).
Finals will begin around noon at Hersey.