Weather plays havoc at 1st day of Lake Park tennis sectional
The focus at Friday's Lake Park boys tennis sectional was primarily on the singles half of the brackets.
That's because poor weather conditions forced the action inside, to the Centre Court tennis facility in Hanover Park, delaying the start of play, slowing the pace, and forcing organizers to push the doubles qualifying matches to Saturday.
Despite the incomplete day and the slew of matches that will await the Saturday morning restart, both St. Charles North and St. Charles East know they'll have a formidable presence at next week's state tournament.
St. Charles East freshman Justin Bowman came back from a first set loss to defeat St. Charles North senior Nikhil Mehta in the qualifying round, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
"Nick plays excellent defense, and in the first set he dug out some great shots and caused Justin to become impatient," St. Charles East coach Rob Livermore said.
Once Bowman adjusted to Mehta's approach the points began to fall in his direction.
"Justin had the confidence to win the match," Livermore said. "He was able to remain patient, and wait for his opportunities."
Bowman reached the second round by defeating Zach Bolin of South Elgin, 6-2, 6-2 in the opener.
"I've played against him before in conference and I knew his weaknesses and what I needed to do," Bowman said.
Despite the tough loss, the North Stars did claim their own bit of success at singles, as Christian Hoskey earned his third trip to state with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Geneva's West Adelman.
"I focused on not making errors," Hoskey said. "I knew he was a steady player, so I focused on not getting ahead of myself and making my shots."
It was Adelman's third match of the day, having won a qualifying match before defeating St. Charles East senior Paul Reiff in the second round.
"He's been a very good player, and he played well though all three matches today," Geneva coach Peter Burkhardt said.
All of the area doubles teams made it through their first round matches, setting up interesting second round showdowns to decide who goes to state.
St. Charles North's David Johnson and John Mittvick brought their power game against Jake Roels and Ronak Patel of Glenbard North, and cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win in what was possibly the shortest match of the day.
"We're just flowing, and playing consistent," Johnson said. "We know what each other is going to do."
Being indoors helped the North Star duo, as it eliminated the elements and allowed them to focus on their game.
"I love it indoors," Mittvick said. "There's no wind, wind equalizes teams, this is just you playing."
Johnson and Mittvick will square off against St. Charles East's Bryan McNally and David O'Dell, who reached the second round with a 6-1, 6-2 win over South Elgin's Rowell Siazon and Brandon Vonsaga.
The other Saints duo of Nick Romano and Sam Leopardo are also a win away from qualifying for the state tournament.
"That would be like going to Disney World," Leopardo said.
Romano and Leopardo advanced to the second round by sweeping Wheaton Academy's John Bodett and Mike Thrasher after surviving a first set that could not have been much closer, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.
"That first set was back-and-forth," Romano said. "In the second set, we found their weaknesses, took advantage of them, and dominated the net."
Geneva's Filip Ivkovich and Colin Rapp made quick work of Bartlett's J.T. Kissane and Rajbir Singh, 6-1, 6-0, in their first match to move on to the qualifier.
The final qualifying bracket will feature a Geneva-St. Charles North showdown between the Vikings' Peter Legrand and Ryan Barnard and North Stars Parker Featherston and Danny Oakes.