Doubles key in Naperville Central’s DVC triumph
Naperville Central senior first doubles player Matt Mason welcomed the pressure that was on him and his partner Wesley Lo in Monday’s final round of the DuPage Valley Conference championship tournament.
The makeshift doubles team which had only played together once before this season responded to the situation with a clutch 6-0, 6-0 win in the final to lead the Redhawks to their third straight DVC tennis title, and once again it was rival Naperville North in second just 1 point back.
The tournament’s final two rounds, which extended well into the evening hours, had to be played Monday because it was rained out on Saturday.
Mason knew that, if he and Lo made the finals their match would probably be starting late because one of the Wheaton Warrenville South first doubles players, DJ Weeks, had to take an exam and couldn’t get to the tournament until two hours after the meet started.
“Matt came to me during the seventh period today,” said Naperville Central coach Dan Brown. “And he asked me if the whole conference championship could come down to the first-doubles final. When I said it was a possibility Matt said, ‘That’s awesome.’ He wanted it to come down to their match.”
“While we were playing I was watching the third-doubles finals match next to us because I knew that Allen Chang and Tommy Wu had to win in order for us to be in position to wrap up the title. It put the pressure on us but that was good. And they won, so it was up to us.”
Lo thought he and Mason were a little shaky at first because they weren’t used to playing together, but thought they got their rhythm later in the semifinals, which they won 7-5, 6-3 over Weeks and his partner Brian Welch.
“We had a bye in the first round on Friday,” said Lo. “Didn’t play on Saturday and then started late today. But we went out there and won the DVC, and that feels great.”
Naperville Central finished with 59.5 points to Naperville North’s 58.5. Wheaton Warrenville South was third with 46 and Wheaton North followed with 36.5.
The Redhawks’ third and fourth singles, Ian Braun and Vishwas Jena, also won conference championships.
Danny Albert was ill and had to withdraw from the finals against conference first singles champion Gordon Zhang, and Sid Swamy had to miss is third-place match because of a knee injury that has plagued him all season.
Naperville North second doubles Yusuke Asai and Steve Schrage won their championship with a hard-fought victory over Wheaton North’s Derek Breese and Mike Dickinson 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 (11-9).
“Our high energy was the key for us today,” said Schrage. “This was one of the closest matches we’ve played and it feels amazing for us to be the second doubles champions.”
Wheaton Warrenville South’s Andy Page was the champion at second singles. He defeated Naperville North’s Terrance Chen in the finals.
In the semifinals Page defeated West Aurora junior Nick Kuntzi 6-3, 6-1
“I played well on Saturday,” said Kuntzi. “But I could have worked on my backhand a little more today and been more consistent. Page is really a great player.”
“Nick has good fundamentals and he’s strong, “ said West Aurora coach Adam Camp. “He needed to get in and attack on some second serves. If he was more consistent it would have been a tighter match. He’s very young and has a bright future.”
“Every year it comes down to a point here and a point there,” said Brown. “Every single match counts along the way. The DVC season is not about winning dual meets, it’s about winning as many matches as you can. This season could have gone either way. At times today, it looked like Naperville North was going to be the champion.”