Cogan, SCN doubles enjoy flawless day at state

Josh Cogan was none too pleased when Effingham St. Anthony freshman Cole Buehrerkemper broke his serve to stem his momentum.

"It was tied 30-30, and I played two loose shots in a row," the Batavia sophomore said of his second-round match at Conant in Hoffman Estates on Thursday afternoon. "You just can't do that in the state tournament."

But it would be the last opening Cogan would surrender; the Bulldogs' standout won the last 8 games in succession to close out his 6-2, 6-0 victory and moved into the round of 16 when he turned back Oak Park-River Forest sophomore Luke Trinka in his third-round match.

It has been nearly three decades since Batavia has had a singles competitor place at the boys state tennis tournament, but Cogan is well on his way after extending his season-long unbeaten streak to 35 matches.

Cogan faces Deerfield freshman Toby Ma Friday morning at Hersey with a quarterfinal berth awaiting the winner.

The Bulldogs' 5-9 seed captured his opening match love-love, and the sophomore denied Trinka 6-4, 6-1 with crisp serving and volleying.

"My serve has been working really well," Cogan said. "It has helped me win a lot of points. I'm not trying to fine tune anything right now at the tournament."

"I'm just excited about (today)," Batavia coach Bob Kummer said. "I thought (Cogan) did a good job of keeping his composure."

Of the four area doubles partnerships to make the state field, St. Charles North junior John Mittvick and senior David Johnson have the North Stars on the cusp of realizing their primary state objective.

"We're trying to get into the top 10 as a team," St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup said. "That's our main goal."

St. Charles North was a mere point out of the five-way tie for ninth place after its top doubles team swept its three matches at Palatine High School.

Mittvick and Johnson opened with back-to-back whitewashes over their foes from Mascoutah and Naperville Central, but Downers Grove South teammates Brian Sorich and Cody Freischlag broke the North Stars' opening-game serve in their third-round match.

But Mittvick and Johnson promptly returned the favor on the Mustangs' first-service attempt, and the theme was repeated with regularity after the North Stars' top guns overcame 3 break points in the third game.

Downers Grove South never truly recovered as the Mittvick-Johnson duo stormed into the round of 16 with another convincing victory, 6-1, 6-2.

"The momentum really changed a lot in the first set," said Johnson, who authored consecutive winners to close out the opener. "We just tried to keep (serve-receive) consistent, keep (the returns) low and in play."

"I was having a little trouble with my volleys at the net, but my returns (from the baseline) were on," said Mittvick.

The North Stars' leaders improved to 34-3 on the season and will face Fremd stalwarts Kenta Shimizu and Ryan Kreis Friday morning at Prospect.

The North Stars' second doubles unit, Parker Featherstone and Danny Oakes, had its bid for an unblemished afternoon fall short with a third-round loss to Oak Park.

"I thought they did a great job in their first two matches," Masoncup said. "They were able to break serve a lot, just like our No. 1 team."

Christian Hoskey had his career come to an end at singles for St. Charles North.

Geneva partners Filip Ivkovich and Collin Rapp were ousted after consolation-round wins over Homewood-Flossmoor and Conant.

Marmion teammates John Mason and Bubba Weiler met the same fate.

St. Francis' Kyle Dawson and St. Charles East freshman Justin Bowmen will also attempt to further their seasons in singles consolation play.