Elgin Academy has historic day at sectional
Barrington won the Elgin boys sectional tennis team title Saturday, its seventh straight sectional championship.
But Elgin Academy was doing the majority of the celebrating.
The Hilltoppers had a banner day with David Kaufman winning the school's first sectional title, Nicholas Garcia and Christian Lynn finishing third to become the school's first doubles team to advance to the IHSA state finals, and No. 2 singles player Charlie Vogel also making the cut for the state tournament. Elgin Academy finished second to Barrington for its highest team finish as well. Kaufman also becomes the first two-time state qualifier for the Hilltoppers. After placing third at sectional as a sophomore, Kaufman trained out of state during his junior year in preparation for this season.
"This is without question the greatest day in the history of Elgin Academy tennis," Hilltoppers coach Lyle Roebuck said. "Sending four boys is absolutely huge."
The IHSA state tournament begins Thursday on the courts of various schools around Districts 211 and 214 in the Northwest suburbs.
Elgin Academy and Barrington claimed 7 of the 8 qualifying spots, leaving it only fitting that the final match of the day would be the No. 1 singles showdown between Kaufman (21-4) and No. 1 seeded George Coll (23-15) from Barrington.
Kaufman took the 3-set match 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 after forcing Coll into playing "his game" for the second and third games.
"Once I made it to the finals there was no pressure," said Kaufman. "I took him out of his game. The first game I played his game, the last two he played mine."
Coll's second-place finish allows him a trip to the state tournament but he knows that he can't be forced into anything but his own game if he wants a strong showing at the state meet.
"I was playing stupid," Coll said. "I have to fix my errors."
Barrington's Varun Parekh (30-10) placed third as a freshman when Vogel (18-3) injury defaulted in the third-place match.
The Broncos also showed strong on the doubles side with both teams facing off for the sectional title. Seniors Jim Deroche and Joe Gasior downed teammates Connor Brownell and Ben Nuckles 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Although Deroche and Gasior have both qualified, Brownell and Nuckles were first-time qualifiers.
"This was a great day for Barrington tennis," Broncos' coach John Roncone said. "That match had a lot of even flow. In the third set, (Deroche/Gasior) got up 3-1, then fell down 5-3 then came back and won."
The Larkin duo of Selwyn Hansana and Eddie Senesombath were the only competitors from a school other than Barrington and Elgin Academy to advance out of the sectional. The Royals' duo downed Garcia and Lynn 6-3, 6-0 to take third place.
"We just kept playing our game," Senesombath said.
The duo (23-7) dropped a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 semifinal match to Brownell and Nuckles, but were happy with the turnaround for third place.
"We had to get things done despite our loss to Barrington," Hansana said.
At Cary-Grove: Cary-Grove junior Chris Federighi won the singles championship, beating Crystal Lake Central's Tommy Nelson 6-1, 6-0 in the final match. Crystal Lake South won the team title with 21 points, edging out CL Central (19). The Gators were led by a pair of doubles teams that are headed to state. Seniors Scott Subak and Andy Deboer finished second, losing to Prairie Ridge's Quinn Revak/Brandon Curtis 0-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the championship match, while seniors Brad Wiegand and Dan Arnold finished third, beating McHenry's Jake Romme/David Robinson in the final match.