Boys tennis: St. Viator powers up against Notre Dame
St. Viator is building momentum here at the end of the boys tennis season with the conference tournament on the horizon.
The Lions finished up their league schedule at a perfect 4-0-0 after defeating host Notre Dame 4-1 on Tuesday afternoon at North East Park in Park Ridge.
Coach Amy Ritchie's team swept all three doubles matches and split at singles to ensure its road victory.
"We have our eye on a top-three finish at the ESCC tournament next week, with Benet the team all of us are chasing," said Ritchie. "But we still feel we have a chance if the brackets fall our way, and a couple of our guys perform at a level we know they can."
The Lions came into their league finale fresh off a loss to Prairie Ridge on Monday. The Wolves will be one of the favorites at the Carmel sectional in two weeks which includes Vernon Hills, Wauconda and North Shore Country Day, who the Lions meet at the end of this week.
"We've tried to play as many of the teams in our sectional this spring to get a good idea of where we stand in the team race, and how we might set up our starting lineup in order to give ourselves the best chance of advancing players into the 1A state tournament," Ritchie said.
Senior Matt Firestone ran into one of the top Class 1A singles players in Nick Hebda, and the reigning conference champ showed why he earned a 9-16 state seed a year ago with a straight-sets victory over Firestone.
"I cannot wait for the state tournament to get here," said Hebda, who went 4-2 at the state tourney last May.
The Western Michigan-bound Hebda was the lone bright spot for Notre Dame, which was unable to match the Lions' doubles firepower, led by Andrew Kicinski/Jack Aiello. They won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 doubles.
"We played well today at the net - playing smart and closing out points when they were there for us," said Kicinski.
"There's a lot of great chemistry on this team, and we have a terrific head coach, and a handful of assistants there for us to give us help, advance and strategy," added Aiello, who was a state qualifier a year ago along with Nick Gattuso.
St. Viator's Robert Douglas/Ryan Flynn were 6-0, 6-0 winners at second doubles, and Jack Beletti/Liam Harding earned a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win at No. 3.
Matthew McManaman, who was in the Lions' lineup as their No. 1 against Prairie Ridge and won that one 6-3, 6-2, made it two straight with a 6-2, 6-4 win against ND's Kenny Such.
"St. Viator tennis has come a long way since I came here four years ago," said Firestone, who will attend Marquette next fall. "I was lucky to have Kyle Borst (2017 state qualifier) as kind of a mentor to me, and with his help I was able to improve each year. And now it's great to be a part of a program that is improving with each season."