Big days for Klawitter, Deroche-Gasior
Highland Park and Oak Park-River Forest might find themselves in the big picture at the state tournament in late May, but the trio of Hersey's Eric Klawitter and Barrington's Jim Deroche and Joe Gasior were the scene stealers at the Huskie/Knight tennis Invitational on Saturday.
The Broncos' duo of Deroche and Gasior stunned the doubles field at the Prospect venue, including 2009 5-8 state seed Oak Park-River Forest in straight sets to win the title at No. 1. The Broncos placed three others in the finals to finish just 1 point away from the big trophy.
"We were just this close to pulling this one out today," said Broncos coach John Roncone.
Highland Park earn its second straight title here, this one shared with OPRF (50 points each). They were followed by Barrington (49), Warren (31), Libertyville (30) and Hersey (28).
The Huskies celebrated Klawitter's big day after the senior upset state qualifier Devon Jones 6-1, 3-6 and 10-6 in the super tie-breaker for the title at No. 1 singles.
"Eric's win today shows that all of his hard work is beginning to pay off," said Huskies coach Brenna Ohlson.
"This feels like a real quality win for me," said Klawitter, who finished off Jones, a 17-32 state seed a year ago, in the first set after a 12-ball rally, then came back to win it all after dropping a second set in which he led 3-2 at one time.
"Devon is a big-strong kid, and I felt that I had to begin to mix things up in order to counter what he was doing in that second set which allowed him to win (that) second set."
The two big hitters seemed content to stay on the baseline and match each other's forehand. Klawitter prevailed in the end as the Huskies top player avoided too many unforced errors during several long rallies.
Deroche and Gasior showed they can play with the big boys. They reached the final following victories over Warren (Nikola Trukov-Paul Schlais) and Mid-Suburban League rival Prospect (Sam Pope-Jon Kiefer) 6-1, 6-0.
"Getting that win over (Prospect) was a big one for us, because we play them again on Tuesday, and ... it's also a win over a quality conference opponent," said Deroche, who partnered with Doug Nordli last season to win 3 matches at the state tournament as the Broncos' No. 2 doubles team.
The duo played the part of a high-level state qualifier much more than their OPRF counterparts, who last season earned a 5-8 seed.
"Those two played with a lot of composure (today) especially when (OPRF) came at them in that second set," Roncone said.
Barrington attacked the net, with Gasior doing plenty of damage in close, then holding serve (with Deroche) to go up 6-5 - before Alex Gebert held serve to send the first set into a tie-breaker
Once there, the tourney champs went up 3-2 before it went back-and-forth, with the Broncos finally capturing the set 7-5.
The Huskies flew out to a 4-1 lead in the second set, but slowly the Broncos climbed back and drew even at 4-4 with Gasior holding serve.
"We knew the were beginning to break down (when) they began to say some things on the court," said Gasior.
"If (Joe) uses his height at the net like he did today and both of them play doubles the way they are very capable of doing, then they can continue their success from here on out, beginning next weekend at the Hinsdale Central Invite," Roncone said.
Freshman Varun Parekh (10-4) was impressive at No. 2 singles, despite dropping his final to Luke Trinka of OPRF.
"I really like being around this team, we have great (senior) leadership, and the extra support and help from the coaching staff has made the move from club (tennis) to high school so much easier," said Parekh, who won the title at Metamora earlier this season.
The Knights' Pope and Kiefer pushed the terrific duo from Highland Park (Zach Brint-Dave Zak) in the third-place match, only to fall in the super tie-breaker 10-6 after splitting sets.
"We just have to get more matches under us," said Pope, who suffered an elbow injury during the basketball season and is close to being 100 percent.
"Sam and I only have 5-6 matches together (so) far, but we know with another week of two of playing, we'll be ready for the Pitchford in 2 weeks," Kiefer said.
Warren freshmen Kristiyan Trukov dropped a match 6-3, 7-5 against Tom Haile of Highland Park to finish fourth at No. 1 singles, while teammates Eric Seiler and Noah Mandell won it all at No. 2 doubles over Tyler Manci-Jordan Hainsfurther from Highland Park.
"I feel pretty good (so) far with the way my first season at Warren and in high school is going," said Trukov (10-3), who placed third in a field of 16 at the Liberty Bell.
"Kristian got off to a terrific start for us, including a very good effort at the Liberty Bell tourney, where he played one of the best in the state, Ben Hoogland (Glenbrook South), even though he lost in straight sets," said Blue Devils coach Greg Cohen. "He injured his back last week, but saw the chiropractor and looks to be doing much better today."
NSC rival Libertyville arrived short-handed, with No. 1 singles player Anish Rauman on a college visit to Washington University in St. Louis. But Griffin Pils stepped in and finished fifth, while the No. 4 doubles team of Brad Williams-Dan Pozen helped the Wildcats earn their top-5 finish.