Grayslake Central’s Granger FVC champ

The Fox Valley Conference boys tennis meet on Saturday came down to a 2-person race for the big winner.

Wind and rain might still be battling it out to see who wins.

The meet, which was called off at 2 of the 4 host sites, did have plenty of area athletes gearing up for next weekend’s sectionals. Grayslake Central No. 1 singles player Mitch Granger continued on his marvelous season, winning his first conference crown with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Grayslake North’s Nate Campanile.

“I’m really humbled to be in this position,” said Granger, who improved his record to an incredible 25-1 after going 5-0 in the FVC tournament. “I had a great match to win the semis. You have to put together a great body of work.”

Granger defeated Cary-Grove’s Chris Federighi 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the singles championship. Campanile (20-4) went 3 sets with Crystal Lake South’s Cam Laktash, eventually winning 2-6, 6-0, 6-1.

“I played well in the tournament,” said Campanile, who won a conference championship at No. 2 singles last year. “I had to have a comeback in the semis. (Laktash) was playing out of his mind. I was just hanging with him until his game dropped off.”

The tough semifinal matches led to a dogfight for third place between Federighi and Laktash (20-7). The two met just once during the regular season, but often played during the summer. The intimate knowledge of one another led to a marathon match, which Federighi took 6-3, 7-5.

“We both know each other’s weaknesses,” Federighi said. “That helps on both ends of the court.”

Federighi took the regular-season meeting 6-0, 6-3. This time things weren’t quite as easy as the two were able to hit back and forth more frequently before Federighi finally ended the second set.

“We’re good friends and we hit together all the time,” Laktash said. “We both can mix it up enough so we don’t know exactly what’s coming.”

Jacobs’ No. 1 doubles squad of Brian Kaczar and Kinchit Joshi know what they need to work on before entering next Saturday’s Larkin sectional. The duo finished No. 2 for a second straight season, despite taking the first game from McHenry’s Dave Robinson and Jake Romme.

After winning 7-5, McHenry took the next 2 games 6-2, 6-4 to claim the conference title. Last season, on the same exact court, Kaczar and Joshi took second in No. 2 doubles.

“The McHenry guys just took it to us,” Kaczar said. “They seemed to warm up (after the first game.”