Neuqua Valley win title with 32 points over host Naperville North

Everyone knew going in that with boys tennis teams at Saturday's Naperville North Invitational so evenly matched, quality depth would be the deciding factor.

Neuqua Valley proved to be the deepest as the Wildcats made the semifinals in five of six flights and won the title with 32 points over host Naperville North's 29.

In a tightly packed field, Downers Grove North finished third with 27 followed by Lyons Twp. with 25 and Rockford Guilford 24. Benet was sixth with 20.

"With so many good teams our depth served us really well today," said Neuqua Valley coach Trudy Bennorth. "Every point counted and we got a tremendous effort from everyone, especially our singles."

The Wildcats singles players, a sophomore and two freshmen who are practically even in talent, took a first, second and third place in the tournament.

Freshman Mike Baiocchi breezed through the third-singles bracket with three decisive victories that saw him drop only five games in all three matches combined.

"My forehand and backhand were going really well and I had some good returns, Baiocchi said. "My serve was really on in the finals."

"Michael is very consistent," said Neuqua Valley assistant coach Nick Benson. "He got off to quick starts in every match and that kind of carried him through. It seemed that every time he had a down point, he'd recover and get two or three."

Sophomore Brian Glavin took his first two matches at second singles before falling 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to Danny Schuster of Lyons in the finals.

"Brian was hitting beautiful volleys," Benson said. "He's been getting to the net and has been really aggressive."

At first singles freshman Abhi Singh lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Ncik Kanega of Lyons but bounced back and defeated Naperville North's top-seeded Reid Mutschler 6-1, 6-2 for third place.

"I was really proud of Abhi, he played with a lot of maturity and didn't give up," Bennorth said. "He's learning that if you get down, you have to keep on going. I'm proud of all of our guys today."

In the double competition Wildcats state qualifiers Chase Perry and Skeeter Plowman were fine in their first two matches but then lost in the finals to Danny Park and Austin Roos of Rockford Guilford in the finals.

"We played really well against Naperville North in the semifinals," Perry said. "We couldn't keep it going all the way. The Guilford guys were closing harder and we didn't seem to know what to do. We have to get our returns more consistent."

"We were playing our best tennis of the season before that match," Plowman said.

"But in the finals it just wasn't clicking. At some time in that match we lost our confidence. I wouldn't have minded losing, if I thought we played well. We played against a very good team."

Neuqua's Andy Frandsen and Tyler Wall took third-place at second doubles.

Naperville North's third-doubles team of Raj Chittal and Kevin Huang was strong all day and went home with a championship, while Rockford Guilford's Cole Grace and Johnny Brandon took the title at second doubles.