Neuqua Valley nets conference tennis title
Bad weather forced them to wait a couple of days, and the matches continued deep into Monday night, but it was all worth it for Neuqua Valley's boys tennis team as they capped an undefeated Upstate Eight season by rolling through the conference tournament.
The Wildcats, who entered the tournament with a comfortable 8-point lead, won 6 of 7 individual titles to repeat as conference champs.
"We have a very cohesive team, the guys all get along, and I've pleased with the way we've played this season," Neuqua Valley coach Trudy Bennorth said.
Skeeter Plowman and Chase Perry repeated as the top doubles team in the conference as they beat Larkin's Eddie Senesombath and Selwyn Hansana, 6-2, 6-2 in the finals, and won all three of their matches in straight sets.
Tyler Wall and Andy Frandsen (No. 2), Adam Ciccone and Tim Worley (No. 3), and Kevin Eid and Mason Sass (No. 4) followed their teammates' lead as Neuqua Valley swept the doubles bracket without dropping a set.
"In the conference, you can't let up, and you've got to keep focus all the way to the end," Bennorth said. "We were pretty consistent in doing that."
Brian Glavin captured the No.2 singles title with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Lake Park's Ivan Simic, and Mike Baiocchi did the same at third singles, turning away St. Charles North's Alex Enscat, 6-4, 6-1. But the top singles title went to Streamwood's Yuto Tsukida, who dominated every match he played, including a 6-1, 6-1 win in the finals over St. Charles North's Felix Nitzsche.
The second-place finishes by Nitzsche and Enscat helped the North Stars hold on to second place in the team totals.
"Of course you always want to win the event, but I thought our guys did well," St. Charles coach Tim Matacio said.
Nitzsche reached the finals, beating Neuqua Valley freshman Ahbi Singh, 7-6 (4), 6-1, by keeping his mistakes to a minimum.
"That was my advantage, I didn't make many mistakes, and I was able to beat him with his own playing style," Nitzsche said.
After losing to Plowman and Perry in the first match, St. Charles North's top doubles team of David Johnson and Parker Featherston rebounded and found some success in the back draw.
"Parker and David did a good job, but that was a tough first match for them," Matacio said.
Nikhil Mehta and Dan Oakes finished second for the North Stars at no.2 doubles, while Ludvig Runnestam and Kyle Pashan did the same at no.4.
Play continued as early evening gave way to late night with Lake Park, Larkin, and Waubonsie Valley battling for third place. St. Charles East had done well in the backdraw and appeared poised to finish sixth.
"Our kids were extremely resilient, and I'm very pleased with that," St. Charles East coach Sena Drawer said.
Paul Reiff, the Saints' top singles player, recovered from a second round loss to Nitzsche and won his next two matches.
"I often get upset and drop a couple points or even a whole game," Reiff said. "What I had to do was focus on each point."