Area stars state their cases at Pitchford
There is no doubt the defending state champion doubles team from Hinsdale Central - Dan Ballantine-Ian Tesmond - is the clear favorite to win another title in 4 weeks.
But the rest of the field is there for the taking - and some area players are hoping to seize the opportunity.
The prestigious Pitchford 32 offers a glimpse of what might happen. Friday, after a long day of tennis, 5-8 seeds Naperville North and cross-town rival Naperville Central - along with MSL power Fremd - find themselves alive in the championship bracket and heading to tourney host Hersey when play resumes at 8 a.m. today
Top seed and defending singles champion Blake Bazarnik (11-1) of Stevenson cruised through a pair of opponents at Prospect and will face Max McLean of Belleville West, who last year won four matches at the state tournament.
Bazarnik's teammate at No. 2 singles, Richard Brej (8-1), recorded a pair of victories in straight sets as the No. 2 seed in his flight.
"The (32) is the real start to the tennis season for many of us, because next week its the Deerfield Invite, then conference, followed by sectionals - so now is the time to step up your play to another level," Bazarnik said.
The Vanderbilt-bound Patriots captain almost saw his mates at No. 1 doubles (Jeremy Bush-Ryan Buxbaum) pull off a major upset in the first round when the duo pushed the No. 2 seed from Belleville West - James Stathis-Scott Segobiano - to the edge before falling, 6 -1, 5-7, 7-5 in a 3-hour match.
"It was a terrible start for those two guys, but they got themselves back into the match and showed in the end that they can play with some of the best doubles teams in the state," said Patriots assistant coach Mark Linnenberger.
The young duo fought back after falling behind 5-2 in the third set to draw even at 5-5, but they were unable to keep the momentum going in the next two games against the West team - which fell in straight sets last season at state to former Patriots Ross Putterman and David Packowitz in the fourth round.
This match was one of many thrillers at Buffalo Grove, with Naperville North (Reid Mutschler-Elliot Giraud) surviving a 3-setter over rival Neuqua Valley (Patrick Carpio-Skeeter Plowman) by scores of 6-7 (4), 7-6 (7), 6-4 to earn a match against Ballantine-Tesmond from Hinsdale Central this morning at Hersey.
"It's been kind of a rough week for both of those guys, after struggling to beat Wheaton-Warrenville, then losing in three sets to (Naperville) Central," said Huskies coach Heather Hendrickson. "But they kept their composure in that third set, especially when (Neuqua) crept back into the match after being down (5-2) and were able to win a match which featured some great tennis by two elite level teams.
North's No. 1 at singles, Gordan Zhang (15-3), fell in a three-hour-plus three-setter to Rockford Guilford senior Danny Parks in a brilliantly played second-round match which went back and forth until Parks, a state medalist at doubles last season, finally closed out the talented sophomore.
The Central pair of Kevin Bauman-Billy Sterret (13-3) booked their place in the championship round after outlasting Oak Park-River Forest (Alex Gebert-Luke Trinka) 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, and will face the winner of the Belleville West-Prospect (Jon Kiefer-Sam Pope) second-round match which was called because of darkness at Buffalo Grove.
"This has been a pretty good week for us thus far, especially after our huge win on Thursday against Neuqua and now our 2 victories today," Sterret said. "We need to play as well as we can in order to improve on our seed when the postseason begins."
Left just outside the top 8 seeds at No. 1 doubles, the Fremd (14-1) duo of Kenta Shimizu-Ryan Kreis took full advantage of a glorious opportunity to make their statement by upending 5-8 seed Metamora (David Stewart-Nate Wilson) 6-2, 7-6 (5) and advancing to the fourth round against 3-4 seed Edwardsville.
"We were really fired up going into our match with Metamora (14-3) and we stayed positive all throughout," said Kreis, the Mid-Suburban League champion at No. 2 singles last season.
"Today we played doubles like it should be," said Shimizu, who teamed with his partner to overcome a 6-5 deficit in the second set to force a tie-breaker.
Both sides turned it up, with nearly ever game featuring one terrific shot after another as Metamora worked to stave off elimination.
"We did the right thing keeping those (two) together from the very beginning of the season," said Fremd coach Ken Goettsche of his 2009 singles stars, "and now I think we're finally starting to see what they are capable of."