Batavia’s Cogan falls in quarters
Batavia junior Josh Cogan’s hopes of staying alive in the championship bracket at the state tennis tournament hit a roadblock Friday afternoon when the Batavia junior ran into the No. 2 seed Jared Hiltzik in the round of 16 at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights.
After the 5-8 seed Cogan (25-3) cruised past Lake Forest freshmen Peter Tarwid in his opener, the New Trier junior, who battles reigning state champion Robert Stineman every day at practice, proved too much for 3-time state qualifier, sending Cogan out of the front draw and into the consolation bracket after a 7-5, 6-1 defeat.
Cogan will return Saturday to continue his quest for a state medal when the consolation quarterfinals begin at 8 a.m.
“I had my chances in that first set, and I felt that I played very well, but in that second set, I just wasn’t my (self) and that was pretty much it, because you cannot play that way against a player like Jared and stay in your match very long,” said Cogan, who will likely watch the IHSA website for his next opponent, which is yet to be determined.
Cogan, who went this far last season before Stevenson star Blake Bazarnik ended his run, fell behind 4-1 in the first set after Hiltzik held, but battled back to 5-5 by using a variety of shots, while using the entire court to put his opponent on his heels during his comeback.
“I was struggling on the (one) side and didn’t adjust to that side at all, and (Josh) was able to win some points and make that first set a close one, and when he finally got even at (5) it really fired me up and it made me refocus in time to win the set,” said Hiltzik, who will meet Deerfield junior Jason Brown, in an important head-to-head match between the two front runners in the state race.
“Jared might be one of the best I’ve seen to volley, but that second set (by) Josh certainly wasn’t the Josh that I know,” said Batavia head coach Bob Kummer.
“Once he got into that first set of his, he was playing terrific all-around tennis, but I just cannot figure out what happened after that.”
Hiltzik was nearly flawless with his serve to help him grab a 6-5 lead, before breaking the Bulldog star to win the set.
“It’s a little disappointing, but now I’ll turned my attention to going after a fifth-place finish when the backdraw begins tomorrow morning.”
St. Charles North roared back to get themselves in the mix for a medal on Saturday after both of the Stars’ doubles teams stayed perfect in the backdraw as play began to wind down on a sunny and pleasant Friday afternoon.
John Mittvick and Danny Oates roared back from what looked like a disastrous first day to win 4 straight Friday afternoon, including a stunning straight-set victory over No. 2 Lyons Township (Jake Elliot-Danny Schuster) in the sixth round of consolation, and an roller-coaster victory ride against 9-16 Warren (Nikola Trukov-Eric Seiler) to book its place opposite of another 9-16, Oak Park-Rvier Forest’s Eric Bruynseels and Tim McAdam) Saturday at Prospect High School at 8 a.m.
“We had a lot to prove after thinking we deserved a higher seed than 17-32, but after losing in 3 sets to 5-8 (Deerfield) yesterday, we had to do something to get ourselves back on track when we returned to play today,” said Mittvick, who figured some time to reflect and do a little soul-searching over dinner Thursday night was exactly what the doctored ordered for he and his partner.
“I guess you could say we still had some unfinished business to finish today, and with each win, we were able to show the committee that maybe we deserved a higher seed,” offered Oakes, who helped his teammate hold serve for the match with a powerful overhead at the net to push the Stars lead to 40-15, end route to a 6-4 third set victory to end the day on a bright note.
Parker Featherstone and Pat Corrigan overcame a less than sparkling effort and match with 5-8 Highland Park (David Zak-Jordan Hainsfurther) in their front draw opener to defeat 9-16 Fremd (Nick Makowiecki-Macij Niemcyzk) but were unable to sustain their magical back-draw run in a 3-set defeat (5-7, 6-4, 7-6(6) to Konrad Ryba and Michael Levin of Glenbrook South to end their hopes of joining Mittvick and Oakes in Saturday’s program.
“Those guys had Highland Park down a break in the first set, and were up 3-0 when everything just fell apart,” said North Stars coach Sean Masoncup.
“We were on our toes at the start and really had (HP) scuffling — but then just as quickly, they had us on our heels, and we never got ourselves back into the match once they went up on us 4-3.”
The North Stars’ pair would fall 6-3, 6-1, then pick their game up to roll over Nick Makowiecki and Maciej Niemcyzk of Fremd.
St. Charles North finds themselves currently 11th overall with 16 points, and 1 point away from the top 10 where Downers Grove South resides.
In the team race, it’s all New Trier, as the reigning state champs lead second-place Deerfield by 10 points (44-34) with the Trevians on course to send both of its singles players, Robert Stineman (38-0) and Jared Hiltzik (33-3), into the noon finals Saturday in Arlington Heights if each can win their semifinals against Tim Kopinski (Stagg) and Jason Brown of Deerfield.