Boys tennis: Practice makes perfect for Hersey, Hinsdale Central
Many elite No. 1 singles players on high school boys tennis teams have to either travel to practice against other elite netters or spar with club head pros to keep their games sharp between meets each season.
Not at Hersey.
Nor at Hinsdale Central.
Hersey senior ace Mitch Sheldon and his HC counterpart, senior Alex Kotarski, each has a strong No. 2 singles teammate in senior Brent Chen and junior Nathan Hernandez, respectively.
“I know a No. 1 singles player who drives 45 minutes each week to practice against another very good player,” Hernandez said Thursday morning at the Class 2A state tournament. “Alex and I like to battle each other in practice. He pushes me and motivates me every day.”
“We’ve had some crazy points in practice,” Sheldon — the No. 1 state seed in 2A — said of drills with Chen after last weekend’s sectional action. “It helps both of us.”
The intense in-house sessions paid off handsomely.
All four won three matches Thursday to reach the state quarterfinals, with each matchup set to start at 8 a.m. Friday at Palatine. Sheldon will face Evanston’s Finn Pollard; 5-8 seed Hernandez will play Lane’s Marko McRae; and Chen, a 9-16 seed, will take on 3-4 seed Kotarski with 4 crucial team points and a semifinal berth on the line.
Michigan State-bound Sheldon skipped to a pair of 6-0, 6-0 victories and a 6-0, 6-2 triumph, and Chen upset 5-8 seed Charlie Morgan of Naperville Central 6-3, 6-1 in the Round of 16.
The fourth quarterfinal features second-seeded and reigning 2A state singles champ Andrew Spurck of Fremd vs. Von Steuben’s Garvin Murray. Spurck won his 100th career match (singles and doubles combined) Thursday morning and improved to 90-9 in singles when he edged Springfield’s Noah Williams 7-5, 7-5 in a third-round match that could have passed for a resounding semifinal.
“(Williams’) forehands were insane,” praised Spurck, who, like Kotarski, is a Xavier (Ohio) recruit. “I had to dig deep and figure out what I needed to do. I had to energize myself, fire myself up, to get into it (after trailing 4-2 in the first set).”
Fremd’s doubles team of Amaye Shyani/Shashwat Srivatsa, a 5-8 seed, secured a quarterfinal berth against 2A reigning state champs Evan Glebov/Blake Gold of Highland Park. Among the other doubles quarterfinal pairings is Hinsdale Central sophomores Barry Zhu/Nicholas Marringa vs. Glenbrook South’s Alex Denizov/Bryce Abban.
Benet Academy’s Zach Bobofchak/Hugh Davis recorded the upset of the day in doubles, stunning 3-4-seed Matthew Sikorski/Jakub Pasielak of Hersey 4-6, 6-4 (10-7 super tie-breaker) in the Round of 32.
But Hersey’s Huskies still have a shot at receiving the first top-three team trophy in program history. Hersey sits second (17 points) behind Hinsdale Central (22) and ahead of New Trier (16), Glenbrook North (14), Barrington (12), Lyons (12), Fremd (12), Metea Valley (11), Edwardsville (10) and York (10) after day one of the three-day event.
In Class 1A, Schaumburg Christian junior Michael Todorov earned a 5-8 seed in singles after falling to a 5-8 seed in the first round of last year’s state meet. Blessed with a versatile game — he rips groundstrokes and taps feathery drop shots — Todorov won two matches Thursday but bowed 7-5, 6-2 to Wauconda junior and 9-16 Sean Lenhart, who will face Marmion Academy junior Benedict Graft in a 1A quarterfinal at Hersey at 8 a.m. Friday.
Wauconda is tied for fourth in the IA standings with 10 points, 8 fewer than co-leaders Chicago (University) and Dunlap.
Barrington’s Nolan Pearson/Sohan Yousfi, as well as Maine South’s Giona Maccaferri/Nicholas Marhoff, won three back-draw matches after a first-round doubles setback.
Warren’s Brandon Paasch faces Conant’s Maximus Rysz in a fourth-round consolation match Friday morning. Stevenson freshman Nikhil Vijayakumar and Conant’s Kabir Motwani reached the same round.