Boys tennis: Naperville Central pulls out key victory in DVC
Naperville Central's Daanyal Saeed and Blake Roegner form an imposing duo on the tennis court.
Both are listed at 6-foot-2, and have youth on their side. Saeed is a sophomore and Roegner is a freshman, so more growth is expected both physically and mentally.
"Generally, we're pretty big kids, so we are able to overpower opponents," Roegner said.
At No. 2 doubles, Saeed and Roegner kept their streak of wins intact, defeating Neuqua Valley's sophomore tandem of Tyler Beck and Christopher Smith in straight sets 6-2, 6-0 to lead the Redhawks to a 4-3 win in DuPage Valley Conference play on Tuesday.
Saeed said the duo haven't lost a match this season, which included a win over Hinsdale Central on Monday.
"The key for us has been staying focused," he said. "We just keep on moving forward and not focusing on those bad points and keep believing we can win the match. We're both excited to play state this year and looking to do big things."
Joseph Li gained a big win at No. 1 singles for the hosts, as Naperville Central won the top two spots in singles and doubles.
"We knew coming in that Neuqua Valley would be our toughest competition in the DVC this year," Naperville Central coach Dan Brown said. "They are so deep and have a strong lineup. A lot of our strength is at the top of our lineup. We had some close matches.
"Our second doubles team has been playing great all season long and now had two big wins. I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks to see where we will stand in the DVC tournament."
Neuqua Valley coach Trudy Bennorth said her team is slowly building after playing just its second conference match of the season.
"(Naperville Central) has such a nice team and are really tough on top," Bennorth said. "I was hoping we could pull out the No. 1 singles match.
Eddie (Neuman) played really well. We will do our best next time. We have to keep working on our Nos. 1 and 2 doubles. We have to keep stepping up to the plate and go for some stuff that I know they can go for."
Although he lost at No. 1 singles in a hard-fought match to Li, Eddie Neuman said he primed for a strong finish to his junior year.
"The key for me was to stay mentally focused and that helped me stay in this match," he said. "Overall, the team is playing well and I've had some highlight close matches. I'm looking to quality for state again and do better than last year."