Fremd's Shimizu-Kreis roll into round of 16

Day One mission accomplished for Fremd's Kenta Shimizu and Ryan Kreis.

The Vikings' stellar doubles tandem safely passed through three rounds of play on their home courts Thursday as the 95th edition of the IHSA boys state tennis tournament got under way.

Shimizu-Kreis advanced to today's round of 16, where the 9-16 seed will battle the 5-8 St. Charles North duo of John Mittvick-David Johnson at 9 a.m. at Prospect.

The MSL champion Vikings were nearly joined by the upstart Barrington pair of Connor Brownell-Ben Nuckles, who upset 17-32 New Trier (Nate and Rob Jacobson) in the second round and gave 9-16 Metamora (David Stewart-Nate Wilson) all it could handle before falling 7-5, 6-2.

Defending team champion Hinsdale Central is tied with New Trier (22 points), but Barrington's upset doubles win damaged the Trevians' hopes of snapping Central's three-year stranglehold on the big trophy.

Oak Park-River Forest trails the leaders by 2 points, with Deerfield and Highland Park tied for fifth with 16 points each. Last year's runner-up Stevenson is seventh, a point ahead of Barrington and Belleville West (13 points).

Fourth-round championship singles action begins at Hersey at 9 a.m. today, with doubles at Prospect. Both singles and doubles winnners will play their quarterfinals at Hersey.

Consolation bracket matches begin today at 8 a.m. at various area sites.

Shimizu-Kreis (30-4) had little trouble, beginning with Princeton and ending with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over the 17-32 Butler brothers (Chris and Geoff) from Carmel.

"Those (two) were serving, hitting the lines, the alleys and just came into today sky high and playing carefree and with a lot of energy, and just had as good as a first day as they could have," said Vikings coach Ken Goettsche, who will watch Shimizu-Kreis meet the 34-3 North Stars.

Brownell-Nuckles, the unseeded Broncos (30-9) who were MSL champions at No. 2 doubles, played from the beginning as if they belonged in the top 16. They knocked off Lincoln-Way Central, then New Trier (6-4, 6-4).

They earned praise from Trevians coach and former state singles champion Tad Eckert, then more kudos from Metamora's Kelly Willard, after his club survived the hard-charing Broncos.

"That (Barrington) team was much better than any of us thought, and they just outplayed a pair of really good singles players who really had no answer for those big serves of theirs," said Eckert.

"We had to serve nearly perfect in that first set to beat them, and I have to tell you that was one very impressive Barrington team that we played and a really great third-round match also," Willard said.

At 5-4 in the first set, the Broncos' had its best chance to grab the set, but Metamora drew even and then never looked back.

"We were just ripping our serves against New Trier, but (Metamora) with their 130 mph serves were tough for us to deal with as well," Nuckles said. "Although it was hard to lose in the third round, it was nice to hear both coaches compliment our play."

It was a bittersweet day at doubles for the Broncos, who enjoyed the success from their No. 2 tandem. But at No. 1, the Broncos lost Jim Deroche on Wednsday night when the senior suffered a collapsed lung that sent him to the emergency room and knocked him out of the tournament.

In his place, Zack Kasiurak joined Joe Gasior, and the Broncos' revised No. 1 tandem won their first two matches before falling to 5-8 seed Glenbrook South (Sellitto-Levin) 6-0, 7-5.

"Jimmy has played the last half of the season with a badly injured right shoulder and somehow fought through the pain to play, but I I feel really bad for both him and Joe, who have had a terrific season together for us," said Barrington coach John Roncone.

In action among Fox Valley area players, two-time state qualifiers Selwyn Hansana-Eddie Senesombath of Larkin were eliminated in two matches, as were Scott Subak-Andy DeBoer of Crystal Lake South.

Elgin Academy's Nicholas Garcia-Christian Lynn won two matches in their first state appearance.

David Kaufman of Elgin Academy, and Fox Valley Conference champion junior Chris Federighi (25-2) of Cary-Grove each played inspired tennis to earn 2 victories each before dropping into the back draw by higher-seeded opponents.

The three-time qualifier Federighi, who entered the tournament as a 17-32 seed, was an easy straight-sets victor in his first two matches at Rolling Meadows before running into 9-16 Rafe Mosetick (29-6) of Hinsdale Central.

Federighi put together a strong effort in the first set only to lose 6-4, before some fine play from the Central sophomore and a bad blister on his right hand did in Federighi for good.

"It's obvious the schedule that Rafe plays at Hinsdale is a big advantage coming into the tournament, but I still felt confident in that second set of coming back, up until I felt blisters after a kick serve," Federighi said.

Kaufman, who was a state qualifier as a sophomore before taking a year off from the prep scene to work on his game and improve his club standing, fell victim to 17-32 Joey Leto of Downers Grove South - who later lost to 9-16 Gordon Zhang of Naperville North.

"Winning the singles title at the Elgin sectional last weekend against two very good players from Barrington (George Coll and Varun Parekh), my goal coming into this weekend is to get a couple of wins in the main draw and maybe 3-4 (overall) before it's over," Kaufman said.

Parekh was bounced from the tournament after suffering his second loss Thursday. Also falling were Schaumburg's talented junior Izzi Balase (35-7) and the No. 1 doubles team from Conant (Brett Sacks-Takuma Ito) - who survived a long three-set match over Normal Community before being bounced into the back draw after a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Carmel.

Eric Klawitter of Hersey and MSL runners-up Prospect (Jon Kiefer-Sam Pope) remain alive in the back draw after suffering third-round losses.

Klawitter (24-6) impressed Huskies head coach Brenna Ohlson during his loss to 9-16 Jimmy Li (Wheaton-Warrenville South),who advanced to play No. 1 Robert Stineman (23-1) today in Arlington Heights.

"Eric played really well against a very good player in (Li) - maybe the best he's played anyone during the past 2 weeks," Ohlson said.

The Knights (24-11) will meet St. Viator (Dean Tanglis-Taylor Blaney) in a rematch from the Palatine sectional after the Lions posted back-to-back three-set victories at the Buffalo Grove site to keep their hopes alive of earning at least 1 more win than last season (4) during their first state appearance.

All of the top eight seeds in both singles and doubles advanced, although the 5-8 seed from Bloom (29-3) had to survive Niles North freshman David Bacalla (3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1).