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Boys tennis: Barrington finishes brightly in MSL tournament

When the sun finally made its first real appearance of the day, it was only fitting that Barrington would be lifting the Mid-Suburban League trophy Saturday afternoon at chilly Prospect High School.

On a day not exactly made for tennis, the Broncos dominated the doubles field to capture a fourth consecutive title for the program.

"I am thrilled for this group of guys , who showed a lot of heart and desire to win this conference title once again, especially when at the start of the year we were not sure if we would be in a position to do so," said Barrington coach John Roncone, whose team finished with 55 overall points. That put the Broncos 13 better than runner-up Fremd (42). MSL East champion Hersey finished third at 38 points.

"This feels great to win the MSL again after losing just about everyone from last year's team," said Barrington senior Cam Holzman, who won at No. 3 doubles in last year's tourney and was a champ again this year, alongside freshman Kyle Shuff at No. 1 doubles. Barrington won three out of the four doubles titles.

The teams of Stephen Levy/Vinay Tripuraneni and Samit Sinha/Joe Wolff were each straight-set champs at No. 3 and No. 4 doubles, respectively, and junior Grant Bernero won his second straight MSL crown at No. 3 singles.

Long before the Broncos' fan base joined the on-court post-tournament celebration, Mack Galvin (31-0) finished his dazzling MSL career in unprecedented fashion with a fourth consecutive championship at No. 1 singles.

The Rolling Meadows senior conceded just five games in his three matches, yet none against freshman Kazuki Matsuno (16-9) of Fremd. Matsuno and freshman classmates Dylan Er (Barrington) and Vera Iyer (Schaumburg) represent a bright future for the league.

"I was really looking forward to this weekend, but now that it's over I know it's really over for me in the MSL," said Galvin. "But it looks like with those three freshmen and a few other good-looking players here at No. 1 that I might be leaving at a good time."

The three-time state qualifier will be the No. 1 seed at next week's Conant sectional, where he could meet Matsuno once again. And Galvin is on course for a 3-4 seed at the state tournament in two weeks as well.

Sophomore Niko Rosas of Conant went 11-0 in the league following his win in the No. 2 singles final over defending champion Mohammed Walji of Barrington.

"It's great to win an MSL title, but now my attention has to turn towards our sectional next week when I team up with Nikhil (Modak) and we go after a second straight trip to the state tournament," said Rosas.

Modak and partner Ryo Ishiyama were denied a place in the finals when the top seed from Prospect, Adam Nadler/Peter Velic, registered a 6-2, 6-4 victory in the semifinals. In the other semi, Holzman/Shuff, rallied to defeat Fremd's Justin Piotrowski/James Feng in three sets after the Vikings were within one game of advancing.

Down 5-2 in the second set, the Broncos mounted a furious comeback to force a third and deciding set, which they survived to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

"I finally began to get my first serves in (and) Kyle was hitting all of his shots, and I think both of us really thought that third set would be ours against a really good Fremd team" said Holzman.

In the final, Barrington defended with all its might after the Knights, who'd dropped the first set 6-3, battled back fiercely.

"We saw what they did to Fremd in that semifinal, and we thought why not us?" said Nadler, who will attend Miami (Ohio) next fall. "And when we closed to 5-4, then 5-5, I thought we could force a third set, but we fell short in our next two games."

Coach Andy Walton's Hersey team showed its strength at doubles as they have all season long en route to a second division title in as many years. The Huskies' No. 2 team of Adam Johnson/Alex Roth ended their MSL season together with a perfect 8-0 record after a 6-2, 6-4 win over Fremd's Chris Stavrou/Advay Mahaja.

"Those two have been just amazing all year long, and today they proved to be the best in the MSL to give the program its first doubles titles in recent memory," said Walton. "All season long we've been very solid at doubles, and the guys came out and continued their fine play at this tournament, including our teams at Nos. 3 and 4 who came up a little short but still got themselves a well-deserved second-place medal."

No. 1 seeds Bharat Bodapati/Jason Deans lost to the aforementioned Levy/Tripuraneni duo from Barrington, while the sophomore/freshman pair of Dominic Antony/Jace Coffaro suffered the same fate at No. 4 against Sinha/Wolff.

With its 42 points earned in the tournament, Fremd shares second place overall in the final conference standings with Hersey, while Conant and Prospect finished in an overall tie for fourth.

  Rolling Meadows' Mack Galvin returns a serve hit by Barrington's Dylan Er in the Mid-Suburban League singles semifinals at Prospect on Saturday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Rolling Meadows' Mack Galvin returns a serve hit by Barrington's Dylan Er in the Mid-Suburban League singles semifinals at Prospect on Saturday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Barrington's Dylan Er returns a serve hit by Mack Galvin during the Mid-Suburban League singles semifinals at Prospect on Saturday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Barrington's Dylan Er returns a serve hit by Mack Galvin in the Mid-Suburban League singles semifinals at Prospect on Saturday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Barrington's No. 1 doubles team of Kyle Shuff, right, and Cam Holzman celebrate a point against Fremd's Justin Piotrowski and James Feng in semifinal play at Prospect. Shuff/Holzman ended up winning the No. 1 doubles title. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
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