Perry, Plowman back in form
By the end of the day Thursday at the state tennis tournament, Neuqua Valley's doubles Chase Perry and Skeeter Plowman were back where they belong - in top form.
The twosome, who finished 17-24 at state last year, won all three of their matches to advance to fourth-round play in today's championship bracket.
"At the Hersey Tournament about a month ago, Chase and Skeeter were awesome," said Neuqua Valley coach Trudy Bennorth. "They were closing the net, poaching, cutting off balls. They were really confident."
After that the scarcity of top competition, combined with rained-out practices and matches, eroded their sharpness a little, according to Bennorth.
"At sectional they started to build it back up," Bennorth said. "And by the third match Thursday, they showed that they could be reaching that Hersey peak in the next two days."
Perry and Plowman won their first match 6-1, 6-1 over Sandburg and then, in what Plowman called the toughest match of the day, defeated Lockport 6-2, 6-4.
The third match was a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jake Hoercher and Hayden Quandt of Bellville West
"We started out real slowly today but we really picked it up in that third match," Perry said. "We were closing the net really well. We held our serves and got our returns in."
Friday the Wildcats duo, which is seeded 9-16, will face No. 3-4 seed Drew Feder and Corey Stumne of Belleville East.
"We were lucky with our draw, which had a seeded team that was knocked off in the first round," Plowman said. "On Friday we play a really good team. We're excited and pumped up. We're confident but not cocky. We'll see what we can do."
In the team standings after the first day of action, the Wildcats are tied for eighth place with 15 points.
Defending state champion Hinsdale Central leads with 24 points on the strength of getting its entire team, singles Augie Bloom and Krishna Ravella and doubles Dan Ballantine and Ian Tesmond and Paul Cooper and Josh Sink, through to the fourth round.
Downers Grove South doubles Rahul Kamath and Brian Sorich also remain in the championship bracket after winning all three of their matches.
"Rahul and Brian just took care of business in all three matches," said Downers Grove South coach Peter Freischlag. "They're poised to have a strong Friday."
Naperville North doubles Yasufumi Terada and Reid Mutchler, who won their first two matches and lost a tough 3-setter to Austin Roos and Danny Parks of Rockford Guilford, and Naperville Central singles Kevin Bauman, who won two and then also lost a tough 6-3, 7-5 battle to Mike Jacobs of Oak Park, join the backdraw.
Other consolation bracket participants due to an earlier loss include: singles Gordon Zhang of Naperville North and Jimmy Li of Wheaton Warrenville South, and four doubles teams: Charles West and Devin Moore (Wheaton Academy); Will Exner and Jack Lorentsen (Wheaton North), Andy Frandsen and Tyler Wall (Neuqua Valley) and Billy Sterrett and Ashvin Reddy (Naperville Central).