South Elgin, Norasith tops at Cary-Grove
It seemed like Andre Norasith hardly broke a sweat.
The South Elgin junior made it look easy Saturday afternoon in Cary. Winning 4 straight matches without losing a set, Norasith’s dominance paved the way for the Storm to go a perfect 4-0 to win the Cary-Grove boys tennis invitational.
Norasith, a two-time state qualifier, claimed his second straight invitational singles championship and improved to 8-0 on the season.
The South Elgin senior’s toughest match of the day came at the hands of Marian Central senior singles Aaron Waters. Norasith, a captain, defeated the Hurricanes’ top singles player 6-3, 6-2.
“I trained hard in the off season and worked hard on all aspects of my game,” said Norasith. “My ground strokes were solid today. “I felt good today. My goal is to make it to the state finals again and finish in the Top 12. I also want to be a team player and help the team win.”
South Elgin coach Brett Johnson has been impressed with Norasith’s improvement from last year.
“He has improved in all aspects of his game,” said Johnson. “He is moving around better and he is physically better. He has high goals and he is a great team player. He is a very humble player.”
It was South Elgin’s third straight team title at Cary-Grove.
The Storm (6-2) defeated Cary-Grove 5-0, Marian Central 5-0, Elgin 4-1 and Lakes 5-0.
Along with Norasith, the top doubles team of Francis Manzone-Aayush Patel also won 4 matches on the day.
Cary-Grove went 3-1 on the day. The Trojans defeated Marian Central 3-2, Lakes 5-0 and Elgin 3-2.
The Trojans’ three doubles teams of Chris-Rozalis-Kevin Maas, Mitch Harte-Sean Finlon and Thomas Powers-Brandon Kroeger all won 3 matches.
“Our doubles teams did very well, “ said Cary-Grove coach Amanda Schueltze. “That seems to be a strength. I was happy with the way we competed today.”
Elgin, 1-3 on the day, got 2 wins from the second doubles team of Josh Hegel-John Hoskins.
“We had a tough day,” said Elgin coach Larry DeHaan. “We played some tough competition. We can learn from this.”
Marian Central, 2-2 on the day, got a great effort from Waters and second singles player Charles Shin, who went 3-1 in the invitational.