It's tuneup time in Knight-Huskie Invite
With two of the most important boys tennis tournaments of the season just around the corner, area teams began to tune up in earnest on Saturday.
Defending Mid-Suburban League champion Barrington, which will attend both next week's Jay Kramer Invite at Hinsdale Central and the prestigious Pitchford 32 the following weekend, turned in a solid day Saturday at the annual Knight-Huskie Tennis Invite. The tournament was hosted by Prospect and contested at three venues, including Harper College, where all three flights of doubles were played.
With a singles field missing four prominent player due to various injuries and ACT testing, all eyes turned to the action at Harper, which saw Highland Park go 3-0 against Barrington.
"All in all, it was a pretty good day for Barrington tennis," said Broncos coach John Roncone, who also received second-place trophies at Nos. 1 and 2 singles from senior Ishaan Jaglan and teammate Mohammed Walji.
Jaglan, who along with Scott Appman qualified to the state tournament last spring, dropped his final to Tyler Washington (6-1, 2-6, 10-7) from Normal Community High.
Appman, who has been paired with Matt Mulligan since the start of the season in the Broncos No. 1 doubles' team, fell to state power Highland Park (Max Gordon/David Aizenberg) in straight sets.
Vijay Tripuraneni and Zach Hennenfent suffered the same fate at No. 2 doubles against a tandem from Highland Park, 6-3, 4-6, 10-4.
"There's still much to do before the Jay Kramer and (32) in two weeks, but our doubles lineup from top to bottom has been a good bunch for us thus far, so all of them will get a real test in the next two weekends to see exactly where they're at," Roncone said.
Barrington's senior-laden team opened the year with an annual trip to Metamora, where they were a perfect 3-0.
"We would have liked to have a chance to see and play against some of the true No. 1's this weekend if they were here, but that's the way it happens at this time of the year sometimes," said Roncone. "We certainly will see everyone during the next two weeks."
Despite playing without singles stars, Jacob Edelchik and Nick Zazove, Highland Park, one of the top teams in the state this season, managed to edge Central Suburban rival New Trier 16-15 to capture the overall team trophy. Normal finished 1 point clear of Barrington (14-13) for third place. Oak Park-River Forest and Warren tied for fifth with 6 points, while tourney host Prospect and Libertyville ended the day with 5 points each.
"Nick had ACT's today, and Jacob has had a rough week with being dehydrated, and flu-like systems as well," said Highland Park coach Steve Rudman. "So, for us, we need to get to full strength with New Trier, Deerfield and the Jay Kramer on our schedule this next week."
Junior Scott Daluga was without his usual partner at No. 1 doubles for Libertyville (Julian Tanczak), but the three-year veteran took it all in stride as the day came to end with the knowledge that bigger and better things are ahead for he and Tanczak as the season unfolds.
"Two years ago I was lucky to have Jack (Springgate) as a partner, and I learned so much from him as we qualified for state, and had two great days there," Daluga said. "Julian and I were new partners last year, and he went through a lot of what I did with (Jack). So coming back together for the second straight year should pay off in the end as we continue to become more comfortable while playing a lot of top-rated doubles team in our conference, and on the weekends."
The Wildcats were once again without its singles stars, Ben VanDixhorn and Stefano Tsorotiotis, who should be back in the lineup soon.
Prospect, which lost the heart of its lineup from a year ago to graduation, still is in a sorting-things-out phase according to former Knights star second-year coach Tom Kujawa.
"We're young in a lot of spots and learning on the job against some very good competition, but I am seeing progress each time out," said Kujawa, who has stayed with Nick Macina and Joe Hafertepe at No. 1 doubles. "We just need to get a lot of matches in to get better."