WW South wins, but it's not a breeze
Wheaton Warrenville South senior Zach Orlove is a passionate fan of the Earth, except when the elements affect his tennis game.
"I'm a tree hugger at heart," said Orlove, who will study environmental engineering at Colorado School of Mines.
"Give me sun. Give me 30 degrees. Give me 120 degrees. But please don't give me wind."
This season Orlove actually is enjoying the winds of change with his new doubles partner, junior Charlie McDonough. On Tuesday their victory at the No. 1 spot helped the Tigers edge Lake Park 4-3 in their DuPage Valley Conference dual in Wheaton.
Andy Page (No. 1 singles), Nick Healy (No. 3 singles) and Aaron Wolff and Bryan Dudzienski (No. 2 doubles) also won for the Tigers (6-2, 1-1 in DVC with 7 points).
Josh Solarz (No. 2 singles), Miles DeWaele (No. 4 singles) and Nick Sapic and Philip Macias (No. 3 doubles) won for the Lancers (9-3, 0-2 with 4 points).
Lake Park was minus one No. 2 doubles player. This was the Tigers' first match since freshman Jack Lillig was lost for the season after surgery for a broken finger.
Lillig and Healy had played No. 2 doubles. Healy outlasted freshman David Cruz 6-0, 0-6, 6-0 in Tuesday's only three-set match.
"That (injury) kind of threw things as far as our lineup, but like everybody, in the next couple of weeks we'll have to have that (plan for sectionals)," WW South coach Patti Clousing said.
In 2014 Orlove played No. 1 doubles with graduated Connor Foley. They were third at the DVC meet and one sectional match victory from state.
Orlove and McDonough won 6-1, 6-3 over Lake Park's senior duo of Frankie Fanella and Keyanu Reyes (9-4). It was the Tigers' third straight victory after losing the season opener to York in three sets.
"We hit with each other a lot over the summer. We've just been thinking about it for a while," Orlove said. "It's my senior year and I'm mainly out here to have fun. If I make it to state, I'll be ecstatic, but if I don't, I'll know that I played the hardest I could senior year."
The past two seasons McDonough has played No. 1 singles and was a 2014 state singles qualifier. Whenever he plays, McDonough wears a hat ever since it helped him overcome a rough stretch during his freshman season.
"It's kind of weird because I'm so used to playing singles, but I feel like I'm starting to get my feet in doubles (with Orlove)," McDonough said. "At the beginning of the year, a ball would go past us and we'd just look at each other. Now we know each other's tendencies and we're good to go."
Page (10-1) won 6-0, 6-3 over Lake Park junior and 2014 state singles qualifier Piotr Lada (12-3). Page has returned to the Tigers' lineup for the first time since qualifying for state as a freshman and will play at Illinois-Chicago.
"I'm just excited to play and be out here before I go to college," Page said. "The team is different, the guys on the team, besides that, not at all (since 2012). The guys on the team make it a big difference."
"We're just happy he joined the team. I'm excited for him to be a part of it," Clousing said.
The Lancers used just three seniors Tuesday. Lada typified his team's effort by closing to 4-3 in the second set. Lada had his team's lone victory in the 6-1 DVC loss to Naperville North.
"I feel like my mindset got much better (this season). I'm staying calmer, more focused in matches," Lada said. "Of course, I had a great opponent today and I was getting frustrated, but all-around I feel like I've improved my serve, a higher first-service percentage, and I'm more steady on my ground strokes."
Lake Park coach Tim Martin was pleased with Cruz taking a senior to three sets and sophomore DeWaele pulling out a second-set tiebreaker to prevail 6-4, 7-6 (5).
"We had a slow start (in our matches) but then kind of sunk our teeth in and made it interesting. I think we gave them a scare," Martin said. "We're getting better every match. I'm really proud of Peter. He's taken a huge jump this year and made himself into one of the best players in the area. He ran into a spectacular player in Andy Page."