Warren's Trukov outlasts Grayslake North's Campanile in marathon
The best was saved for last in the Class 3A tennis sectional at Lakes on Saturday.
It took three sets and more than three hours for Warren freshman Kristiyan Trukov to defeat Grayslake North sophomore Nate Campanile 6-7 (8-6) 6-4, 6-0 to capture third place in singles.
The match had the feel of a heavyweight boxing match as both players went volley to volley
In the first set, Trukov was ahead 5-3, but Campanile rallied back to tie and the two eventually headed to a tiebreaker.
Trukov led 4-1, but Campanile came back to take the lead. Trukov won the next two points to make the score 6-3 and was looking at game-point three times. Campanile tied the score at 6-6, but Trukov took the final two points to win.
"I had made some mental mistakes,"Trukov said. "I didn't want to repeat them the next two sets."
Trukov's older brother Nikola, who teamed with Paul Schlais to win the doubles title, was cheering on his brother.
"The first two sets were close," Nikola Trukov said. "And then in the third set, I think Nate just ran out of energy."
Campanile wasn't done, as he rallied back to lead 6-4, but Trukov won the next point to win the game.
Campanile came back to win the second set 6-3, before Trukov shut the door 6-0.
"It was like my eighth hour of playing," Campanile said. "I just ran out of energy out there. I knew I would have a good chance of winning the tiebreaker. I knew if I had won that, I would have a good chance of winning the second set."
Warren won the team competition with 27 points and will send five players to the state tournament this week.
Lake Forest - which advanced Sam Winkler and the doubles team of Andy Walker/Peter Wolniak - finished second with 21 points.
Grayslake North senior Bryant Poggensee-Wei won the first singles title by default over Winkler.
It was the first time that Grayslake North advanced a player to state.
"Bryant did a wonderful job for us today," said Grayslake North coach Jill Tomasello, whose Knights finished third with 20 points. "He tried out as a junior even though he had never played tennis before and now he took first place in singles."
Nikola Trukov and Schlais defeated Warren teammates Noah Mandell and Eric Seiler 6-2, 6-4 for the doubles title.
"It's kind of weird playing against teammates, just because we've been through a lot together," Schlais said. "At the end of the day, they're still our opponents and we still have to play hard against them to win."
Johnsburg's Brayton Regner and Colin Goulet won by default over Lake Forest's Walker and Wolniak for third.
Warren's sectional championship was its first in three years.
"They did a really nice job this weekend and they had a great season," Warren coach Greg Cohen said. "The five kids are incredible kids. The average GPA of those kids is about a 4.4. I'm glad to see that their tennis season has gone well, as well."
At Deerfield: Libertyville sophomore Griffin Pils defaulted in his third-place singles match against Highland Park's Tom Haile due to a shoulder and hand injury, but will be able to play in the state tournament.
In doubles, Carmel Catholic's Chris Butler and Geoff Butler qualified state. The duo dropped its final match to Deerfield's Brian Felder/Kevin Friend 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
The singles title went to Deerfield's Jason Brown, who beat teammate Toby Ma 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the final.
The all-Highland Park doubles final saw David Zak/Zach Brint best Tyler Manci/Jordan Hainsfurther 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Highland Park and Deerfield each finished with 21 points, but Highland Park was declared the sectional winner because the Giants won 75 percent of their games played, opposed to Deerfield's 72 percent.