Doubles depth boosts Naperville North

It was a big day for the host Huskies at the Naperville North boys tennis invitational on Saturday, and they all played a part.

The Huskies earned the championship on their home grounds for the first time in years by winning second doubles and then picking up at least three points in every other flight, including three second-place finishes.

"The doubles teams really impressed me with how solid and knowledgeable they are," said Naperville North coach Heather Henricksen. "And the singles really stepped up and got us the points that gave us the final victory."

The result was close. The Huskies finished with 33 points to top second-place Lyons Township, which scored 30 points. Not far behind the Lions were: Neuqua Valley with 28, Waubonsie Valley with 27 and Benet with 22.

Naperville North's only individual championship was produced by brothers Kirk and Jared Williams, who won a hard-fought second-doubles final 7-6, 6-4 over Mitch Deboer and Demetri Triantafel of Lyons.

"The Williams brothers did such a great job today," Henricksen said. "They complement each other really well and they both were great at the net. They played a lot of doubles in the off-season, and it really shows."

First-doubles Rohit Rastogi and Jake Kokoris and third-doubles Kevin Maxson and Joe Lin both finished second in their respective flights.

And while the Huskies doubles delivered as expected, the refreshing surprise for Hendrickson was the performance by her young singles lineup.

Junior Ryan Slade made it to the finals at third singles, won the first set then suffered leg cramps and limped to a loss 2-6, 7-6 (7-1) to Pranadeep Akarati of Waubonsie Valley.

Second-singles Sahil Rastogi finished in third place, while first-singles Kevin Zhang was fifth. Both Rastogi and Zhang are freshmen.

"Kevin and Sahil got some big wins at the end," Slade said. "After a tough match with Anthony Nguyen, who went on to win the championship, Sahil pulled out that tough match to get third. I did well until the cramps came, but it was a good day. It's awesome that we won. There were a lot of good teams out there."

Slade plays doubles in the team's conference lineup.

"The doubles background really helped him today," said Naperville North assistant coach Savanna Schillinger. "He's got that doubles mentality and he's coming to the net. All three singles players showed a lot of poise and control."

Saturday's invitational also proved that the future of Waubonsie Valley tennis is in good hands.

Second- and third-singles Anthony Nguyen , a freshman, and Akarati, a sophomore, both came away with tournament titles.

"What helped me a lot was coming into the next to take advantage of volley and using the wind to create shots," said Nguyen, undefeated thus far this season. "When I was leading the first set, Sahil played great and I slipped a bit mentally. In the final I focused better to make sure this didn't happen again. "

First-singles Suveer Kothuri won a pair of matches before dropping a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Jack Bernstein of Lyons in the final.

"We're really coming along as a team and we're hoping to win conference," Kothuri said. "With two sophomores and a freshman starting, we should be getting better and better for the next three years."