Stevenson's Bazarnik, Brej-Buxbaum roar past three foes

Blake Bazarnik opened defense of his 2009 state singles title in grand style Thursday.

The Stevenson star cruised to a trio of straight-set victories to book a spot in today's round of 16.

Bazarnik will battle Naperville North super sophomore Gordan Zhang (25-7) today at tourney host Hersey in Arlington Heights.

Bazarnik (26-3) who entered the state tournament as a 3-4 seed, will be joined by teammates Richard Brej-Ryan Buxbaum (7-0), the doubles tandem that put on a sparkling display at Palatine on Thursday.

Brej-Buxbaum roared past three foes in straight sets and advanced to the round of 16 against 9-16 Belleville West (Stathis-Segobiano) today at Prospect.

Championship-round action begins at 9 a.m. at Hersey and Prospect, and the winners play at Hersey in quarterfinal action. The backdraw resumes at 8 a.m. at various area sites.

Defending champion Hinsdale Central, which has all four teams alive in the championship round, is tied for first in the team standings with New Trier (22 points each). In third is Oak Park-River Forest (20), followed by Deerfield and Highland Park tied for fifth with 16 points.

The Patriots, runners-up last spring in the team standings, are seventh with 14 points in the 95th edition of the IHSA state tournament.

Bazarnik had little trouble with Joseph Collins of Evanston in a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

"Today it was all about being aggressive, finishing off points (quickly) and getting (done) early and out of the heat and sun in advance of a big day on Friday," said Bazarnik, who was forced to wait two-plus hours for his second-round opponent - Bloomington's Patrick Fitzgerald - who prevailed in a long three-set, first-round match.

Brej-Buxbaum began their day brightly and shone all the way through, beating their last two victims (Prairie Ridge, 6-1, 6-1) and Springfield (6-2, 6-1) to prove worthy of their lofty 5-8 seed.

"Our confidence is growing with each match that we play together," said the senior Brej, who two years ago had a long tournament run as half of the Patriots' No. 2 doubles duo.

"We're having a lot of fun out there right now, and Richard and I (seem) to be getting better and better as we go along," said the junior Buxbaum, who sees the Patriots' match today as a chance to avenge a three-set loss to Belleville West at the Pitchford 32 with then partner Jeremy Bush.

On Thursday, the Patriots' Bush won his first two singles matches before falling to 9-16 Jason Brown of Deerfield.

Warren's No. 1 team of Nikola Trukov-Paul Schlais (28-11) had a bit of a scare in their second-round match against Belleville West (Hoercher-Hollenbeck) - needing back-to-back, tiebreaker victories in the second and third sets to advance.

Trukov-Schlais then fell in straight-sets to 9-16 seed Highland Park (Manci-Hainsfurther).

The NSC champions will join teammate Kristiyan Trukov and fellow NSC rivals Grant Thompson of Lae Zurich and the Carmel team of Chris and Geoff Butler (26-7) in the backdraw today.

The freshmen Kristiyan Trukov lost his opener before roaring back to defeat three foes in the backdraw. He will play a breakfast special today at Rolling Meadows.

The state rookie Thompson had an impressive start until 9-16 seed and two-time East Suburban Catholic Conference champion Julian Childers (37-1) of Marian Catholic earned a 6-4, 7-5 decision.

The Butler brothers of Carmel ran into the MSL champion and 9-16 seed Kenta Shimizu-Ryan Kreis of Fremd and fell 6-2, 6-1.

"There were certain things that we could have and should have done, but in the end, the difference is in the mental side of things - that, and Fremd is a very good doubles team," said the senior Chris, who is looking to improve on the 3 wins he and then partner Andrew Buccholz recorded here in 2008.

Bryant Poggensee-Wei and Nate Campanile, who helped Grayslake North to its best finish ever at 15-3 this spring, saw their 2010 season end on the first day after each suffered a second loss in this double-elimination tournament.

Poggensee-Wei (28-7) was unable to get himself going after a first-round loss to Schaumburg's Izzi Balase and was eventually eliminated by 17-32 Alex Haizel of Marist.

"Bryant felt his opener was very winnable, but with NIU (here) taking a look at him, he might have been a little tight in that first match with Balase," said Grayslake North coach Jill Tomasello.

Campanile (31-3) went 2-2 after losing his opener to 9-16 four-time state qualifier Stephan Rauh of Metamora.