Barrington claims sixth straight tennis crown
The Barrington doubles team of David Martin and Cam McClelland sent the Broncos on their way to a sixth straight boys tennis sectional championship, while teammates Jim Deroche and Doug Nordli and freshmen George Coll helped add to the eventual victory total to help the Broncos overwhelm the competition Saturday at Larkin.
Streamwood senior Yuto Tsukida capped a brilliant regular season by capturing the singles title with a win over Coll in straight sets to earn his second consecutive trip to the state tournament, which begins Thursday morning at courts around the Northwest suburbs.
Christian Lynn (Elgin Academy) and Tom Schreiner of Jacobs will also advance into the state tourney with the sophomore Lynn taking a marathon 3-set win to grab the third-place medal.
The host Royals sent both of their doubles teams through after securing the third and fourth spots.
The Broncos outscored Larkin and Elgin Academy 30-15, and Streamwood and Jacobs, who finished with 14 points each.
Selwyn Hansana-Eddie Senesombarth (31-7) defeated teammates Jesse Kammerer-Casey Suevel long after the Broncos collected the hardware after the quartet first attended graduation ceremonies before returning to the courts to play the third-place match.
Martin-McClelland (27-6) were easy victors over Deroche-Nordli (24-8) in a battle between 2009 MSL champions and in what would be the fourth championship match in the last 6 years that featured Barrington doubles teams.
"One of our goals was to stay undefeated (after) the Pitchford and to go into the state tournament with confidence and momentum heading into an always important first match on Thursday at the state tournament," said Martin, who last season, along with Greg Mulligan, went 3-2 at the tournament as the No. 2 team for coach John Roncone.
"Those two are quite capable of having a long run next week, but it's all about getting a strong start on that first day," said Roncone.
After a quick start in its semifinal Saturday morning against the unseeded No. 2 team from Larkin (Kammerer-Suevel) the Broncos struggled some with their serve and a handful of close calls in the second set which initiated a few words from each side, yet seemed to spark the Broncos into life and an eventual 7-5 tiebreaker win for the match.
"Barrington has always been a quality program and in that match you could see its experience come through when it counted," offered Larkin head coach Bob Young, who nonetheless will accompany his two teams to the tournament, the first time in 12 years the Royals have sent at least one doubles team into the final weekend.
Deroche-Nordli looked to be in dire straits in their semifinal with the Royals top team (Hansana-Senesombath) in the first set after Senesombath held to give his club a 5-2 cushion.
However after the Broncos held, they broke Hansana, held service with Nordli in control at the line to draw even at 5-5 then took the next 2 games for the set.
The Broncos cruised in the second set to book their place opposite their teammates.
"We switched things up and changed formations and its seemed to help turn things around for us," said Deroche.
The Upstate Eight singles champion Tsukida (31-1) was nearly flawless in his 6-1, 6-1 victory over Lynn in the semifinals and although the rookie Coll played some terrific points with the Sabre star during the final, it was his veteran presence and nasty forehand which finally did in Coll in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.
"Yuto had many of the same arsenal of weapons and technique last year that he has this year, but the difference in him this season is his maturity and the way he goes about his business on the courts," said Streamwood head coach Miriam Abe.
Tsukida, whose only defeat this season was to Ottawa senior Alex Fleshman in 2 sets, and has been a 3 sport player (soccer, bowling) in his time at Streamwood, looks ready to improve on his 2-2 record last season at the state tournament.
"During the offseason I worked on my (approach) shots so that I would be able to put away (opportunities) and get those points 100 percent of the time," he said.
"Having the experience from last year (from) the state tournament and a strong year (this) season gives me a very good chance to improve on my two wins and play a little further into the tournament next weekend."