Stevenson puts it all together at Buffalo Grove

Stevenson nearly swept all six flights of tennis on Saturday to win the team title going away at the Buffalo Grove Invite.

The Patriots, led by their No. 1s at singles (Jeremy Bush) and doubles (David Packowitz and Ross Putterman), outdistanced runner-up Glenbrook North. The Spartans’ lone title came at No. 3 singles, where Brian Enberg beat the Patriots’ Richard Yeker 7-6 (7), 6-4.

“We came (here) and accomplished what we set out to do, but now we’ll turn our focus to this coming weekend with the (Pitchford) 32 beginning on Friday, where we will get a better indication of where we stand with the best in the state,” said Stevenson coach Tom Stanhope.

The host Bison (19 points) finished fourth, just below a combo team comprised of three teams after Dunlap was a late scratch, with Lake Zurich and St. Viator tied for fifth with 14 points.

Bush, a sophomore, continues to shine after taking over the No. 1 position following the graduation of four-year star, and state champion, Blake Bazarnik, who is now in the starting lineup at Vanderbilt in his rookie season.

Bush, who was the Pats’ No. 2 last season, battled through a back injury during his first state appearance last May to win four matches over two days of play, until Devon Jones of Oak Park-River Forest, plus his injury, led to a 3-set loss and the end of his tournament run.

“I would like to have thought that Jeremy would have had a great chance of winning that match with Jones, if he was 100 percent at that time,” said Stanhope of his best singles player, who on Saturday dropped just 3 games en route to his title.

“I worked extremely hard on my conditioning during the off-season, and enlisted the help of a physical trainer to help me with that as well as getting me ready for this upcoming season and the state tournament, which I really feel like I can do much better than I did last year,” said Bush, as he began what has become a post-match ritual of 30-plus minutes of stretching exercises.

“Jeremy is really so much bigger and stronger than last season, and and you see it in his serve, and the rest of his game overall,” said Patriots assistant Jeff Zanchelli, who was at the Buffalo Grove site to watch Brian Kim win it all at No. 2 singles as well.

Packowitz and Putterman, who took their junior year off to work and refine their game on the club level and at USTA tournaments, cruised to their championship with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over the Bison duo of Max Beylis and Ari Kazan.

“We’re really looking forward to the 32 next weekend — it’s a mini-state meet, and a tournament in which we can measure ourselves against all of the best doubles teams in the state,” said Packowitz, who will attend Marquette next fall, and along with his long-time partner and friend, will likely earn a 1-2 seed next weekend.

Teammates Andrew Komarov and Ryan Buxbaum rolled over a trio of opponents to earn the crown at No. 2 doubles. At No. 3, it was Pawel Jaworski and Dennis Kontorovich 6-3, 6-1.

Both Beylis and Kazan earned high praise from BG coach Kevin Schrammel for their efforts, which included a straight-set win over Stevenson (Christian Albrecht-Dylan Golf) in their tournament opener, and an even more impressive result in the semifinals in a 7-5, 6-4 victory against the No. 2 seed from Glenbrook North (Bill Angel and Josh Sawyer).

“The guys played Barrington’s No. 1 (Ben Nuckles-George Coll) really tough, and getting two wins against quality teams (today) will be really important later on when it comes to seeding at sectionals,” said Schrammel of his Nos. 1 and 2 singles players during dual-meet competition.

Angel was a state qualifier last season along with Tommy Snape, who took over for Sawyer after an injury ended his year for good.

The Bison also received a third-place medal at No. 2 singles from Nick Boustead. St. Viator junior Joe Nowakowski was fourth overall at No. 1 singles and Bartlett’s Aaron Smedley was fourth at No. 2 singles.

At Hinsdale Central: In the first of three of the high-profile tournaments this spring before the state championship in late May, it was the 2010 titleholder, New Trier, which drew first blood Saturday afternoon at the Jay Kramer Invitational.

Defending state singles champion Robert Stineman of New Trier enjoyed a superb day of tennis and his return into the spotlight, and likely the top seed at the 32 this coming weekend.

The doubles team from Highland Park of Tyler Manci and Jordan Hainsfurther bounced the upstart team from Lyons Township of Danny Schuster and Jake Elliot in straight sets to give the Giants duo the big trophy ahead of all others in this star-filled group.

The Stanford-bound Stineman awoke the peaceful neighborhood which surrounded Burns Park with his sonic boom serve, which he unleashed in his semifinal match with the talented junior from Deerfield, Jason Brown, to win 6-3, 6-1. Stineman defeated teammate Jared Hiltzik 6-1, 6-4 in an all-New Trier final.

Hiltzik stunned the No. 2 seed and 2010 state runner-up Tim Kopinski of Stagg, 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, then outlasted Hinsdale Central junior Rafe Mosetick 6-4, 7-6 to book his spot against Stineman, who appears ready to make a serious run at a second consecutive title.

“I don’t even think about winning (another) singles championship — in fact, the day after I won last year was the last day I thought about it,” said Stineman, who brought out his full arsenal of weapons in his last two matches to help the Trevians outscore Oak Park-River Forest and Hinsdale Central for the big hardware.

The Schuster-Eliot duo stunned the No. 1 seed from Highland Park (David Zach-Zach Brint) to begin a wild quarterfinal round, which included the team from Hinsdale Central (Pete Heneghen-Alex Hagermosher) taking down No. 2 New Trier 7-5, 6-2.

One round later, Lyons needed three sets to upend No. 3 seed Oak Park-River Forest (Devon Jones-Luke Trinka) 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-5 to earn its spot opposite Manci-Hainsfurther, who proved too strong as they ended the LT ride 7-6 (2), 6-3.

“We had to wait a long time for that final to begin, and I was a little worried about how the guys would react to (that) — but they had a fairly easy time of it in the tie-breaker, then broke (LT) at 4-3 to help set up their win,” said HP coach Steve Rudman.

Barrington was the lone area club competing here, and its top doubles team of Ben Nuckles and George Coll had its chance to create some news for themselves in its first match of the day.

The Broncos pushed No. 5 seed New Trier to the brink, only to fall 7-5, 6-4 (11-9 super tiebreaker). They then lost in the backdraw to Deerfield’s Alec Siegel and Jack Kasbeer.

“That would have been a good win to take with us to the seeding meeting for the 32,” said Barrington coach John Roncone, after watching the heartbreaker with New Trier.

“Ben and I are quite capable of playing with anybody, but we’ll have to stop giving away so many points,” said Coll, who, together with Nuckles, a state qualifier last season, have been partners for just eight matches thus far.

“That match with New Trier was there for us to take, but that’s just something we’ll have to put behind us, and hopefully not have happen again,” said Nuckles, a senior.

Teammate Varun Parekh was playing well into the backdraw as the day continued, and was on the court against the talented sophomore from Oak Park-River Forest, Jeremy Dixon.

Parekh lost his opener against Jason Brown, who was third last May at the state tournament, then won consecutive straight-set matches against Sam Fishman (Highland Park) and Nathan Stable of Lyons before facing Dixon.