Cogan taking his place among Batavia's all-time best
Josh Cogan's dream of becoming only the second state medalist in school history came up just one match short Saturday afternoon after the talented sophomore lost in straight sets in the consolation bracket to end a wonderful 3-day state tournament ride.
The Batavia sophomore fell to Ben Quazzo (6-1, 7-5) after outlasting Wheaton-Warrenville senior Jimmy Li in 3 sets (6-4, 5-7, 6-3) in an early morning quarterfinal in Mt. Prospect, before the 3-time state qualifier from Chicago Latin would guarantee an opportunity for himself to finish in the top five.
"You never know how a player will come out for this 8 a.m. match on the third day of the tournament, especially when you're just playing for yourself, and not (your) team which might be in a fight for a team trophy," said Batavia coach Bob Kummer.
"Josh started a little slow against the kid from Wheaton-Warrenville, and I was a little worried about him when I saw that, but he is so smart, and always under control, so at the point you have to trust that he knows what he's doing, as he has all throughout the tournament."
"That was a great match between those two players today," said WW South coach Patti Clousing.
"Both would rally when they needed to, and neither player gave in. Both played about as hard as they could after a long three days of tennis."
Cogan, who defeated a pair of seeded players in his last two days (5-8, Toby Ma and 17-32 Luke Trinka), ends his season with a dazzling 33-3 record. He's set himself up for a blockbuster season next year, when he'll take aim at Frank Vermaat and his fifth-place medal won in 1983 to join the best tennis players ever to play at Batavia.
John Mittvick and David Johnson (36-4) were unable to match the feats of their area rival Cogan, but the St. Charles North top doubles team still walked away with their heads high following a 5-2 state record after falling in their consolation quarterfinal to 9-16 Edwardsville (Stathis-Segobiano) 6-4, 6-3.
"The guys played well, but in no-add tennis on Saturday, you cannot afford to lose 7 times and expect to have a chance to win," said Stars coach Sean Masoncup.
"But it was a great tournament for those guys, as well as the rest of the team," Masoncup said.
Although they will miss the Monmouth College-bound Johnson, Masoncup returns 3 of his 4 top players next season after a highly successful 2010 campaign in his first year on the job.
New Trier's Robert Stineman (26-1) defeated Tim Kopinski of Stagg in straight sets to capture the singles title.