Benet doing well on Day 1
On the eve of the East Suburban Catholic Conference boys tennis tournament, Benet coach Michael Hand figured his Redwings and Carmel would fight down to the wire come Saturday afternoon when the tournament concludes at Harper College in Palatine.
Hand may be right.
The regular-season champion Redwings sent four of their five flights through the first day of play Thursday, while the Corsairs - who finished just 1 point behind the Redwings in the final team standings - advanced all five.
"It's kind of like two years ago when it was us and St. Viator, and we were looking for a little help to get up and over them," Hand said. "We didn't get that help we had hoped for (then), and on Saturday we may be looking for it in order to beat a very good Carmel team for the title."
The tournament featured matches at three indoor venues Thursday after heavy rains forced the players indoors.
The Redwings advanced all but their No. 1 singles team into the semifinals. Their No. l doubles pair, Mitchel Roemer-Phil Denys, dealt Marian Catholic's hopes a blow with a straight-sets victory in one of the few matches played outdoors, at Forest View Racquet Club in Arlington Heights to seal their spot against St. Viator's Taylor Blaney-Dean Tanglis.
"Our first-serve percentage was very good against Marian, and for us, that's big," said Roemer, who with his partner mixed in some well-timed aces to complement a variety of shots that knocked their opponents out of the front draw.
The match included a game that featured 6 deuce points and several opportunities for the Redwings to finish off Marian.
"They have got to learn to close out teams when it's there for the taking," Hand said.
Carmel's No. 1 singles player, freshman Bryan Hunt, enjoyed an easy first-round victory (6-1, 6-0) over St. Patrick's Brian Toth to book his place against top seed and defending champion Julian Childers (26-1) of Marian.
"I played (him) earlier in the year, and he's very athletic player who can hit hard and, if you let him, get into your head," Hunt said. "What I want to do is to stay and play composed, then just see what happens if I am able to do that."
Hunt's teammates, the No. 1 doubles seed of Chris and Geoff Butler, crushed their lone opponent Notre Dame 6-0, 6-0 and will face Joilet Catholic's Ian Barr-Austin Naal. One more victory will send the Corsairs' tandem to the finals.
"I am very happy with how our first day of play went, very happy," said Carmel coach Nancy Fehn, who watched junior Dan Park advance at No. 2 singles into the semifinals against top seed Mitch Zavetky of Marian Catholic.
St. Viator's Blaney-Tanglis impressed coach and acting tournament director Dan Tripamer, who watched his senior duo roll over Marist 6-0, 6-2 to set up the next match against Benet.
"They looked great today, and as we said earlier in the week, those guys know it's do-or-die for them from here on out," Tripamer said. "I think both of them want to use this tournament to set themselves up for a successful weekend at the Palatine sectional in one week and another trip to the state tournament."
Benet and Carmel will not play each other except in the finals at all five flights, should the two sides qualify their remaining players.