Barrington’s Coll-Parekh still in front draw

George Coll and Varun Parekh took a giant stride toward their intended destination in the boys tennis state tournament Thursday.

The Barrington duo won their first three doubles matches on their home courts to stay alive in the front draw and gain a spot in the fourth round of championship bracket play Friday morning.

The Mid-Suburban League champs will meet 3-4 seed New Trier (Alex Mang-Arthur Ozga) at 9 a.m. today in Buffalo Grove in what promises to be an entertaining and exciting second day of the 97th state series.

MSL and sectional champion Vincent Lin (Schaumburg) was sent into the backdraw after a marathon three-setter went to Jeremy Dixon (8-4) of Oak Park-River Forest. Both doubles teams from Fremd suffered the same fate and look to bounce back Friday when the backdraw begins at 8 a.m.

Tournament favorites Hinsdale Central and New Trier lead the pack with 24 and 22 points respectively, with Lake Forest a surprise at 22 points as well. Oak Park-River Forest (20) and Stevenson (17) are right there in the team race, too.

After cruising through their opening match, Coll-Parekh (20-7) ran into a little bit of trouble when facing Waubonsie Valley’s Deep Chatterjee-Abhi Singh, who tested the mettle of the 9-17 seed. That was especially true in the second set, which went to a tiebreaker after an easy 6-1 Broncos win in the first set.

“They brought a little intensity and energy at us in the second set, but I really feel that our experience was the difference,” said Barrington coach John Roncone moments after his top team won the the tiebreaker 6-1.

With extreme heat and gusting winds, the Broncos pair took the court in the third round against Belleville East (Christian Hamilton-Lucas Birk) and quickly met with stiff opposition.

“Belleville did a lot of things to us in that first set, and until we figured things out it wasn’t going very well for us,” said Roncone, as the Broncos suffered a first-set loss after an 8-6 tiebreaker.

“The wind was like 50 miles an hour, and it was really messing with our game,” said Parekh. “But George played with great composure in that second set, and I followed right there with him and we began to play simple, smart tennis and finish off points the way we know that we can — and now we’re in the last 16.”

“Belleville was a real gritty team,” said Roncone, “but George has been here four times now and Varun is playing at a real high level. I really feel when we finally began to play like we could and started to effectively handle the lobs, we were able to get on a run and put them away for good.”

The Broncos won the next two sets 6-2, 6-1 to secure their spot opposite New Trier.

Lin (22-1), a freshman, was hoping to join his MSL West rivals in the front draw today, but it was too much power and veteran experience from Dixon, a junior. The Schaumburg standout roared back from a 6-0 first set to force a third set, in which Dixon prevailed 6-3.

Lin moves over to Wheeling this morning for his first backdraw match of the tournament.

“A lot can be said for going against a big hitter like (Dixon) and all of his experience,” said Saxons coach Jason Campbell. “Vincent was a little down after that first set, but he proved that it’s all about how much you have and how much you can deliver in getting back into the match. Dixon is a big, tough player, and he had a little bit more than Vincent did in the end.”

Conant had a tough day at doubles, with the team of Spencer Fang-Connor Saks going 0-2. The Cougars’ top singles player, Peter Itskovich, provided a bright spot for Conant after winning twice in the backdraw, before his season was ended in three-sets by Matt Kulma of DeKalb.

Fremd’s Matt Buesing-Mike Artov endured one of the longest days of any team in the field following consecutive 3-set matches in Palatine before Adam Dahlberg-Max Samstag (Rockford Boylan) sent the Vikings’ top team into the backdraw following a 6-2, 7-6 (5) third-round defeat.

The Vikings duo will be at Palatine this morning to face Robert Rajfer and Carter Bird from Chicago Latin.

After a tournament-opening win over Naperville North (6-0, 2-6, 6-4), Buesing-Artov wait for what seemed like an eternity for Warren (Matt Matheny-Samuel Gudeman) to outlast Conant’s Fang-Saks in three hours. That set the table for a 2½-hour match, which Fremd won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

“We’re glad to still be alive in the front draw, but all we want to do is get inside — and out of the heat — and rest,” said Artov.

The Fremd tandem went up 4-2 after Buesing held serve, but the Vikes soon found themselves in a bit of trouble towards the end when fatigue began to set in.

“We found a way to grind it out, and although it wasn’t pretty, we still got the win,” said an exhausted Buesing.

The Vikings No. 2 team (Eric Pohl-Sudeer Vundru) won its first two at Buffalo Grove in straight sets over Chicago U-High and Downers Grove South, but were beaten by 9-16 Metamora’s 34-7 tandem of Quinn Vaughn-Christoph Goettler. That send Fremd into the backdraw against the same Waubonsie Valley club which fell to Barrington.

Pohl-Vundru will be at Prospect High School for their breakfast special match Friday.

Prospect sophomore Carson Burke went 1-2 in his first state tournament appearance for the Knights.

All front draw singles matches will take place at tourney host Hersey, while Buffalo Grove welcomes championship play at doubles.