Lin impresses; Conant takes Lake Park title
Freshman phenom Vincent Lin continues to outplay the competition in his rookie year at Schaumburg, but Mid-Suburban League rival Conant ended up earning the team trophy at the Dan Hildebrandt Tennis Invite at host Lake Park on Saturday afternoon.
Led by the No. 1 team of Connor Saks and Spencer Fang, the Cougars edged the Saxons 17-15 in the team race. Lake Park had 14 points in a third-place finish at the school’s West Campus.
The Cougars’ doubles pair defeated Jack Millikan and Evan Sabal (Lake Park) 6-4, 6-3 in the match that decided the team race.
“Jack and Evan were involved in a very close match with Conant and played really well under pressure. I couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Lake Park coach Tim Martin, who watched the Millikan-Sable tandem move to 17-5 after its loss.
The individual star of the day was Lin (13-0), who dropped just 5 games in his 4 matches as he cruised to the singles crown with a victory over Glenbard North’s Matt Krzyzaniak 6-2, 6-0.
Lin now counts victories over a trio of 2011 state qualifiers — Jasper Koenen (St. Charles East), Matt Hirsch (Glenbard West) and his chief rival at the Mid-Suburban League tournament next weekend, Nick Makowiecki of Fremd.
Lin had a solid game plan against each opponent Saturday, sprinkling in a quality ground strokes, a high-percentage service and the ability to move his opponents all over the court before finishing off the point.
“My volleys are the best part of my game, but I like to be the aggressor in my matches, and I feel like I was today,” said Lin, who is currently ranked No. 3 in the USTA under-14 age class.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have a player like Izzi (Balase) for four years,” said Schaumburg coach Jason Campbell. “Now Vincent, if his game continues to progress, should have a nice career for himself here at Schaumburg.”
Campbell had high praise for his No. 2 singles players, Ben Brito, who went 15-5 and got plenty of time at first singles while Lin missed time due to illness and a trip to the prestigious Easter Bowl.
“Ben has been a terrific captain and three-year player for us,” said Campbell, “and he stepped in and did a great job while Vincent was gone.”
The UIC-bound Brito finished fifth overall after defeating Kevin Lim of Glenbard North.
“Maciej (Niemcyzk, of Fremd) deserves the No. 1 seed at No. 2 (singles) at the conference tournament,” said Brito. “In fact, he’s as good as a lot of No. 1’s. But I am really excited about playing in my last MSL tournament and hope to improve on last year, while helping the team as well.”
Conant junior Peter Istkovich, who qualified to state at doubles along with Takuma Ito last spring, grabbed third-place honors following a 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Jon Housour of Lake Park.
“The year has gone pretty well for me thus far, and I look forward to making a run at a top-four finish at the MSL tournament next weekend,” said Istkovich, who has been the Cougars’ No. 1 from the beginning for coach Amar Patel.
Housour took the most games (3) of any opponent from Lin on the day in his semifinal match with the eventual champ. Honsour later fell to Istkovich 6-1, 6-2 in the third-place match.
“It’s been a good year for us thus far,” Martin said. “We’re 13-5 overall in our duals, and we’ve got a great group of seniors, and good depth. If things go well for us on Monday and Tuesday when we play Waubonsie Valley and Metea Valley, we’ll have a good shot at second place in the conference.”
The Rolling Meadows doubles team of Brian Martini-Marvin Lopez beat Lake Park’s No. 2 team (Jered Small-Ryan Olsen) 6-4, 1-6 (10-8 in the super tiebreaker) to take third place, and those points pulled the Mustangs even with Glenbard North at 13 as the programs tied for fourth place.
The Mustangs pair took the champs from Conant to the edge in the semifinals by forcing a 10-point super tiebreaker after its 6-4 second set win. Conant won 10-8 in the tiebreaker.