Boys tennis: Streamwood’s Veltkamp wins St. Charles North sectional; North Stars claim third straight team title

It's scary how good of a high school tennis player Streamwood sophomore Mathieu Veltkamp could be in the future.

Veltkamp (28-1), a Class 2A state qualifier a year ago as a freshman, cruised to the St. Charles North Sectional singles title Saturday.

The talented sophomore defeated Alex Sternowski of St. Charles East in the championship match, 6-0, 6-0.

Veltkamp advanced to the title match with a 6-2, 6-0 semifinal victory over St. Charles East's Teige Donehoo.

"I just wanted to stay calm," said Veltkamp. “Last year's experience helped me. My serve and forehand and everything was solid.

“I lost in the first round last year (at state) and want to at least win one match last year.”

Host St. Charles North won its third straight sectional team title with 18 points. Batavia was a point behind with 17 points. St. Charles East was third with 15 points followed by Geneva (14), Bartlett (12), Streamwood (10) and Elgin (10).

The North Stars were led by the doubles team of seniors Cole Weddle-Ben Goddard who won 5-0, retired over Geneva's Tyler and Aaron Masoncup in the final.

Aaron Masoncup, who was injured in a semifinal win over Batavia's Eric Otten and Caleb Sharda (7-6, 6-1), was unable to continue in the championship match.

"It was unfortunate but we had to stay focused and not get comfortable," said Weddle.

“It was trending toward us winning,” said Goddard. "We peaked at the right time. It was an unfortunate situation. It was great to win the conference last week and sectionals this week that give us momentum going into the state finals next week.“

Sean Masoncup, the father of Aaron and Tyler, praised his doubles team of Weddle and Goddard, and his team's sectional title streak.

"They are legit," said Sean Masoncup. “They have a different style and they are great athletes and they force their opponents to make shots. To win the conference and sectionals is quite an accomplishment.They are great communicators. I am hoping they are a force next week. To win the sectional again is great. There are great coaches in this sectional. St. Charles East (Rob Livermore), Geneva (Ryan Barabasz) and Batavia (Brad Nelson) have great coaches.”

Barabasz is hoping Aaron Masoncup will be healthy enough to compete with his brother Tyler in the doubles state finals next week.

Batavia, a close second, was led by the doubles teams of Eric Otten-Caleb Sharda who defeated teammates Jack Nelson-Matt Vrba 6-0, 6-2 for third place.

"We played very well," said Nelson. “Our No. 1 doubles team played very well and are peaking. We had some big quality wins."

The third place Saints were paced by Sternowski who was second in singles play and Donehoo who was third.

Bartlett was led by Oskar Tredota who was fourth in singles.