Zhang, Naperville North grab top spots

There was plenty of glory to go around at Saturday’s Naperville North boys tennis sectional.

The host Huskies won the team championship as five schools qualified at least one representative for the state tournament, which begins this Thursday in the northwest suburbs.

Naperville North’s Gordon Zhang won the singles championship, and Benet’s Phil Denys and Matthew Rurka won an all-Redwings doubles final by defeating their teammates Bobby Martin and Michael Schutt.

The Huskies doubles team of Kevin Huang and Steven Nguyen finished third.

The sectional’s top four singles players and top four doubles teams qualify for state.

Wheaton North singles Jack Lorentsen and Falcons doubles Zach Andor and Ben Crowe and Glenbard West singles Matt Hirsh and St. Francis singles Mike Vale also qualified.

Naperville North scored 23 points to win the tournament, while second-place Benet scored 18. Glenbard West and Wheaton North were tied for third with 16, followed by Wheaton Warrenville South with 12 and St. Francis with 11.

Zhang, who only lost two games in his four sectional matches combined, took his game to a whole new level this weekend.

“Gordon was extremely aggressive today,” said Naperville North coach Heather Henricksen. “He was taking the ball early and playing with a lot of confidence. He’s really excited and ready for state.”

“I never won sectionals before,” said Zhang, a junior, who has qualified for state all three years. “I feel that I really performed well in this tournament. My serve has been inconsistent all year and my serves were solid and had a lot of pace. I feel great to be able to represent Naperville North at state.”

Henricksen was impressed all season by the play of Huang and Nguyen.

“They’re naturally good tennis players,” Henricksen said. “They set each other up extremely well at the net with their first serves. They’ve been terrific and this was their first year as a doubles team.”

The Benet doubles teams are close in ability but their stories are very different.

Denys and Rurka are an established team that qualified for state last year, while Martin and Schutt, battled through some inconsistencies to become a strong duo in their first year together.

“Bobby and Schutt stepped up a level in competition this year,” said Benet coach Michael Hand. “They now understand how to set up a point and what it takes to win big matches. Phil and Matthew are the model of consistency and they seem to be peaking at the right time. They were great this weekend and also earlier this week in a match against Downers Grove South.”

Hirsh said his loss to Zhang made him realize that he has to make an adjustment in his game going into the state tournament.

“I have to work on being more aggressive,” Hirsh said. “And I have to play my game instead of my opponent’s game.”

Vale, who defeated Lorentzen for third place, gives the Spartans their first boys tennis state qualifier who isn’t named Dawson in almost a decade. The brothers Jeff, Connor and Kyle (who graduated last year) have led the St. Francis team in recent seasons.

“Mike played a lot of tennis last year in practice against Kyle Dawson,” said St. Francis coach Marcia Bussey. “That began his improvement. He was a perfect sparring partner for Kyle. And then he worked hard in the past year to improve his game. He always had good foot speed, but he’s playing smarter this year, pacing himself and planning the point.”

Wheaton North qualified all three of their senior captains.

“This is the first time we’ve had two representatives for state since I’ve been coaching here,” said the Falcons coach Rick Rateike. “Ben and Zach have been good all year as a team. I’m delighted they made state. Jack is a great competitor who can run all day. He should do well at state.”