North prevails in the battle of St. Charles
Long after St. Charles North had clinched the team competition, St. Charles East freshman Justin Bowman gutted out a three-set win over Nick Mehta in what was easily the day's best match.
"I'm so tired," Bowman said, soon after coming off the court. "A lot of the points were long and I had to run around so much."
Bowman's 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win was punctuated by tight, hard-earned points as both players went at each other, wearing out the far corners and remote edges of the court.
"My main goal was to hit to his backhand and open up the court on the deuce side, and he had trouble with that," Bowman said.
St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup was impressed with the way Mehta, who has primarily been a doubles player in the past, fought back to win the second set.
"Nick is a warrior, and I was proud of the way he played today," Masoncup said. "Neither one of them deserved to lose that match. It was really well played."
The rest of the day, for the most part, belonged to visiting St. Charles North which dominated the top two matches on its way to a 5-2 team win.
David Johnson and John Mittvick get off to a fast start and made quick work of Nick Romano and Sam Leopardo, 6-1, 6-1, in the No. 1 doubles match.
"We were a little nervous at the beginning, but we got our first serves in and did what needed to do," Johnson said.
Over the past four years, Johnson has made a habit of beating the rival Saints as part of the friendly rivalry between the two schools, and it's an experience that has not gotten old.
"You always want to win this match," Johnson said.
Christian Hoskey also swept at first singles, beating Paul Reiff, 6-2, 6-1.
"Christian hit the ball with authority, kept balls in play, and really stepped up in the second set," Masoncup said.
As impressive as Bowman was, the North Stars rolled out a freshman of their own as Dominick Amalraj topped Nick Maze at third singles, 6-2, 6-1.
Back on the doubles side, Danny Oakes and Parker Featherston survived a tough first set, then took over from there to defeat Ryan McNally and David O'Dell at No. 2 by scores of 7-6 (3), 6-0.
"We talked after the first set and I challenged them to take over the net, and they did that in the second set," Masoncup said.
Pat Corrigan and John Terwilliger added to St. Charles North's wins, topping Connor Davis and Sam Decker, 6-2, 6-4, at third doubles, but the Saints took one back at fourth doubles as Rohit Goel and Charlie Schuka out-dueled James Reid and Connor Davis, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
"They had to rally to win that first set, and they were able to scrap it out," St. Charles East coach Rob Livermore said.
For the less experienced Saints, the day was another building block toward what Livermore hopes will be future success.
"We have to make some adjustments, especially in our second sets," Livermore said. "North was able to expose some weaknesses that we have to tighten up."