Batavia gives Kummer 638th win
Bob Kummer could be excused for reflecting on some memorable boys tennis dual meets with Geneva.
“I started the (Batavia boys) program,” Kummer said after his final dual meet between the archrivals, capturing his 638th combined girls and boys career victory with the 4-3 triumph Tuesday afternoon in Geneva. “I have some great memories coming over to Geneva in the (various) conferences.”
The Bulldogs (15-7, 5-1) swept the three singles matches in the critical Upstate Eight Conference River Division showdown to remain within shouting distance of leader St. Charles North.
Geneva fell to 9-5 overall and 3-3 in the division.
Josh Cogan has been the face of the Bulldogs’ program the past four years, and the senior No. 1 singles performer used a withering service game against Geneva senior Wes Adelman to remain undefeated on the season (23-0) with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.
“I have been working on (my serving) a lot,” Cogan said. “I was feeling pretty good out there.”
Cogan broke Adelman in the third game of the opening set to create the 2-game separation needed for victory, and the tide turned once and for all when Cogan, after breaking Adelman again to start the second set, served 5 straight points to reverse a 15-40 Adelman lead in the second game.
“I think that was a pretty crucial moment to come back from a 15-40 deficit,” Cogan said.
“(Cogan) served pretty well during (that stretch),” Adelman said. “There wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it.”
Ryan Sterling has been equally impressive for the Bulldogs at second singles this spring.
The sophomore had his 19-match winning streak snapped in a crossover against Neuqua Valley, but Sterling improved to 23-2 on the season with a straight-sets win over Nick Huang.
“I was keeping the ball in play,” Sterling said. “I was trying to push the ball around to make (Huang) make the mistakes.”
Adam Maris’ one dropped game at third singles put Batavia on the cusp of victory.
The Vikings would rebound in doubles, though it came too late to salvage their cause as Batavia clinched the match with a fourth straight victory.
Sophomore Jeff Lorden and senior Kyle Stiffler continued the trend of one-sided matches by dominating second doubles in love-love fashion.
But margin of victory carries over to the conference tournament — to be held this weekend at Batavia — and Geneva cost the Bulldogs additional bonus points by winning the final three doubles matches.
Chad Barber and Ryan Cooney won in straight sets at third doubles for Geneva, which also received 3-set wins from the respective No. 1 and No. 4 duos of Ryan Doeckel-Brad Reedy and Ford Dickinson-Spencer Ankley.
“I’m kind of disappointed (with the doubles results),” said Kummer, who will coach his final dual before retiring after 34 years against West Aurora at home on Monday. “I want to win the conference. It’s such a close race. We could have used a few more points.”