St. Charles N. wins UEC River
St. Charles North’s march through the Upstate Eight Conference’s River Division came to an overwhelmingly successful end Saturday afternoon at Streamwood.
The North Stars took home their first conference championship in the program’s history by winning 6 of the 7 individual championship matches.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys, the way they worked hard together, the way they played as a team and supported each other all year long,” St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup said. “This is a great thing for our program and a great thing for these kids. It’s even sweeter than I thought it would be.”
Entering the conference tournament with a significant point lead after dominating the regular season, the North Stars took nothing for granted and stormed though Friday’s opening rounds. All 3 of St. Charles North’s singles players as well as its 4 doubles teams reached the finals.
“We knew going in that our depth would be a huge thing for us, especially at doubles,” Masoncup said. “That was they key for us, and the reason we were able to advance all of our players to the finals.”
As expected, the best match of the tournament turned out to be a thriller at No. 1 singles, as St. Charles North senior John Mittvick employed a combination of strategy and strength in beating St. Charles East’s Jasper Koenen 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6).
“The second set was a hiccup, but I just let it go and kept fighting,” Mittvick said.
Mittvick, who has spent most of the past four years playing doubles, took what he learned from a loss to Koenen earlier this season and put it to good use, especially in the grueling third set.
“I didn’t want to over-hit, so I was just trying to slice and he kept missing,” Mittvick said. “That was my gameplan coming in, to make him miss.”
Koenen, who blasted through an impressive second set, had a chance to take control of the match in the third. But Mittvick balanced his considerable power with discipline and court sense to force the talented freshman to hit a variety of difficult shots, which sometimes resulted in errors.
In a match this tight, those errors made the difference.
“For a championship match to be that close and to be played with that much intensity, you can tell there was a lot of desire on both sides of the court,” St. Charles East coach Rob Livermore said. “John played very well and forced Jasper to go for the shots. Both played an outstanding match.”
The North Stars had a far easier time in the top doubles match as Parker Featherston and Danny Oakes barely broke a sweat in sweeping Elgin’s Dan Hegel and Reza Khan, 6-0, 6-1.
“We were confident going into the tournament that we could beat anyone who was here,” Featherston said.
Featherston and Oakes, who were the top seed, got off to a strong start, dominated every aspect of the match, and finished in impressive fashion.
“We were able to get some momentum going and we got off the court nice and quick,” Oakes said.
Pat Corrigan and John Terwilleger closed out a successful run as a doubles team by gutting out a tough win over Geneva’s Ryan Doeckel and Chris Moran, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, in the No. 2 doubles championship match.
“They have been so dependable the past two years,” Masoncup said. “They have some tight matches, but they always seem to find a way to win, and that shows the types of kids that they are.”
The North Stars also won a 3-setter at third doubles as Eli McCray and Eric Pashan got by St. Charles East’s Matt McCarthy and Sam Decker.
“We were the No. 1 seed coming in, so we felt pretty good,” McCray said.
After winning a quick first set, 6-2, the North Stars duo let up a bit and dropped the second, 6-7, but returned to form and easily won the third, 6-1.
“We had a lead in the second set, but we just blew it,” Pashan said.
Cam Staroske and Grant Spellman completed St. Charles North’s sweep of doubles championships by beating Chad Barber and Brad Reedy of Geneva, 6-2, 6-2 in the fourth doubles match.
“Those guys played a great match today, and I am so pleased with how hard they’ve worked and the way they’ve improved throughout the season,” Masoncup said.
The North Stars’ strength extended to second singles, where Dominick Almaraj won a gritty match between two of the area’s toughest competitors, beating Geneva’s West Adelman, 6-4, 6-3.
“This means a lot to me,” Amalraj said. “One of my main goals this season was to win conference.”
But a determined and resilient freshman from Geneva kept St. Charles North from sweeping the singles side. Nick Huang bounced back from an opening set loss to Ian Walden by first limiting his errors, then eliminating them to win the No. 3 singles title, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
“I tried to be more consistent and take good shots when they came to me,” Huang said.
Geneva finished second overall, thanks to Huang’s win, the second place finishes at No. 2 singles, and second and fourth doubles, and third place wins by Colin Rapp at No. 1 singles, and Kevin Potts and Ryan Barnard at No. 1 doubles.
“There were a couple of matches we should’ve won and didn’t, and couple we shouldn’t have won, but did,” Geneva coach Peter Burkhardt said. “It all balanced out in the end, and I was pretty happy with our players’ performance.”
The Saints ended the tournament with two second place finishes and a third place, and wound up third overall in the team competition.
“We dug ourselves out of a couple holes this weekend,” Livermore said. “The guys all wanted to finish on a high note, and we were able to achieve that for the most part.”
Batavia, which was missing No. 1 singles player Josh Cogan, finished fourth on the strength of third place wins by Kyle Stiffler and Connor Propp at second doubles, Alex Bock and Jeff Lorden at third, and Dave Sarver and Matt Potter at No. 4.
“I’m happy with the way we came on strong today and took control of our matches,” Batavia coach Bob Kummer said. “We needed to do that as a team.”