Glenbard West's Hirsh takes it from the top
When Glenbard West coach Jim Valleskey fills out his lineup, having Matt Hirsh at the top isn't a bad place to start.
The three-time state qualifier and mainstay at first singles defeated Will Lear of Glenbard South 6-1, 6-0 Wednesday to help lead the host Hilltoppers to a 7-0 win.
“Matt is a coach's dream,” Valleskey said. “We're looking at him putting together a great final season this year. It would be nice to keep him here forever.”
Valleskey is appreciative of what Hirsh has meant to the Glenbard West program the past four years.
“He's not only a great player and teammate,” Valleskey said, “but he's been a mentor for our two outstanding freshmen, Steve Hanna and Matt Lipnica, who are playing two and three singles this year. He helps them with their game, provides moral support and even drives them around.”
The presence of Hirsh and the arrival of Hanna and Lipnica has helped the Hilltoppers (2-0) compensate for some key graduation losses.
The coach points out that Hirsh has improved a great deal over his junior year.
“He did a great job of conditioning in the off-season,” Vallesky said. “He's just gotten stronger and quicker, his groundstrokes are even better. He's added a little pop to his serve and his net game is improved. He's just the all-around athlete for us.”
In Wednesday's match Hirsh followed his game plan.
“You want to make sure you're hitting your own shots and not just playing into the opponent's game,” Hirsh said. “That worked well today. Tomorrow I'm going to play Gordon Zhang of Naperville North, and that will be another test.”
Lear was impressed by Hirsh's ability to place the ball.
“He's a fantastic player,” Lear said. “He knows how to hit the lines like nobody I've ever played. And I tried to get it to places that he couldn't reach. But his quickness makes that difficult.”
Hirsh will attend Swarthmore College next year, and he plans to major in something in the science or math fields. He will play tennis in college.
Another encouraging sign for the Hilltoppers against Glenbard South was the work of the senior first-doubles team of Filip Pacyna and Sam Young, who won their match 6-0, 6-0.
“I was looking for a dominant team to play first doubles,” Valleskey said. “And Filip, who played singles last year, and Sam both have sectional experience. They give us what we need for both conference and sectionals. The good weather has given us a little time to put the pieces together, and it's given us a chance to build relationships at doubles.”
Glenbard South coach Mark Conrad saw some positives in Wednesday's performance but admitted that there's still a lot of work to do for the Raiders (0-2) to compete for the conference championship they shared with Timothy Christian last year.
“We have to be more consistent with our serving,” Conrad said. “And our doubles team missed some opportunities to put the ball away at the net. But it's still early.”