Naperville North keeps rolling
The experience that the Naperville North boys tennis team has is continuing to drive home the wins for the Huskies, with the most recent victim being Wheaton Warrenville South.
The Huskies (6-1, 3-0) defeated their DuPage Valley Conference opponent 6-1 on Thursday in Naperville but Tigers sophomore standout Charlie McDonough prevented the sweep with a win in No. 1 singles.
McDonough defeated senior Aneesh Natarjan 7-6, 6-2 for the Tigers (4-2, 2-1) only points.
“It was a tight first set,” McDonough said. “Thankfully, I came through in the breaker and in the second set I played really well and was able to come through.”
In No. 1 doubles Naperville North's junior Rohit Rastogi and freshman Kirk Williams overcame Zach Orlove and Connor Foley 6-1, 6-2.
“I was really proud with our doubles,” said Huskies coach Heather Hendricksen. “Wheaton South always comes in and they make you hit so many extra balls. They put everything back in the court and they play with a lot of energy and confidence. So I knew that we were going to have to … be ready.”
Even with the season about halfway over Rastogi is still impressed by his freshman partner.
“(Kirk's) a really great player, a lot better than I was as a freshman, a lot better than most of the guys on the team were as a freshman,” Rastogi said. “The only thing we need to work on with Kirk is the mental thing and closing things out because we've had some matches where we've really played well but weren't able to put it together at the end.”
The Huskies went to work in the remaining matches, having no problems in Nos. 2, 3 and 4 singles and No. 3 doubles.
In No. 2 doubles Wheaton Warrenville South's Keegan Gilligan and Jack Smith gave Rahul Agarwal and Eric Swan some trouble in the second set after falling 6-3 in the first, but the Huskies duo took down the Tigers 7-6 in the end.
“I thought we really hung well with some of our doubles matches,” Tigers coach Patti Clousing said. “With Nick Healy and Keegan Gilligan coming back really, almost taking that to the third set that was really an exciting match to watch. Charlie is just playing so confident and he's a player who's improved so much.”