Geneva's Adleman teams with Michaels to take second in doubles

It doesn't matter as much who Greg Adelman's partner is, just so long as he has one.

Adelman has shuffled through a few doubles partners at Geneva. Saturday he teamed with Richie Michaels to place second in the second doubles draw at the annual Geneva invitational.

The two are just 3-1 on the year, having played in other spots in the Geneva lineup.

"We're a pretty good team. We just kind of play our game," said Adelman, who said their strength is their ground strokes and serves.

Their strong forehands worked until the finals, when they lost to Lincoln-Way East, 6-3, 6-0.

"This (tournament) is always lots of fun," Adelman said. "We try to go all out and win it."

Geneva gave it a run, but it was Lincoln-Way East who won the nine-team invitational with 20 points. Oswego took second with 10, and Geneva, Marmion and IMSA all tied for third with 8 points.

"I thought we could have taken second but with the reduced squad it comes down to the top players," Geneva coach Peter Burkhardt said.

Both Geneva's top singles players lost to the eventual tournament champions.

The Vikings got more points from their second doubles team, Colin Rapp and Wes Kappel, which placed third.

Burkhardt said he'll move his lineup back around this week for Western Sun matches against Glenbard South and Batavia.

"This is our first invite with lots of teams and that's why I'm still trying to move guys around. I thought our first doubles played pretty well, just didn't have a good match in the one they lost," said Burkhardt, Geneva's first-year coach.

"This is the first invite I've ever run. Lots of extra work. It was a good experience. Nice group of people, didn't have any problems with behavior."

Second singles Chris Pattermann highlighted Marmion's day by placing second. He breezed through his first two matches winning 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-1 before running into a tough finale against Lincoln-Way East's Kamil Cwikla, losing 6-3, 6-0.

St. Charles East is in a rebuilding year with only three returnees and a junior dominated team.

"We're a young team," St. Charles East coach Sena Drawer said. "They are very inexperienced in the tournament type thing at this level.

"They are working hard. They are going to get better. Most are juniors and are going to get better. They are working very hard to improve and today I think they did match by match."

The Saints had a pair of sixth-place finishes.

One of them came in first doubles, with Nick Romano playing with a new partner, Sam Leopardo and losing 6-1, 6-1 to Marmion's James Weiler and John Mason.

"I think a lot of matches were closer than the score," Drawer said. "A lot of games went to deuce."

The Saints' second singles Nick Maze also placed sixth. This is the sophomore's first year out of the team after switching from baseball.

"He's been struggling to win matches," Drawer said. "He's a good athlete. I see a lot of potential and room for growth. He won a lot of challenge matches to earn the second singles position. He's very determined."