Boys tennis: It's on to the semifinals for Rolling Meadows' Galvin

The second day of the boys tennis state tournament ended exactly the way Mack Galvin wanted it to.

The Rolling Meadows senior prevailed in a hair-raising round of 16 match in his Friday opener, then burst in front of 9-16 seed Tytus Metzler (17-3) before the Rockford Auburn junior was forced to retire late in the first set due to a case of heat exhaustion.

Next up for Galvin will No. 1 seed Vuk Budic (29-0) of Deerfield in Saturday's 9 a.m. singles championship semifinal at tournament host Hersey as the 81st state tournament nears its end.

"What a day," was all Galvin (39-0) could say as he rushed to get out of the steamy conditions at Hersey - but only after making sure Metzler was OK after the junior took nearly 10 minutes indoors in an attempt to recover and continue playing after Galvin played to a 5-0 first-set lead.

"That's a tough break for Tytus, who is a real great guy and terrific player," said Galvin. "But I think his long three-setter with (Jacob) Edelchik (Highland Park) before ours really took a lot of him, as well as Edelchik."

The Air Force Academy-bound Galvin had trouble of his own in the early going after cruising to a 6-1 first set victory over 9-16 seed Tom Bickel (16-7) of New Trier. Galvin the fell behind 2-1 in the second set before stormy weather blew through to delay the tournament for nearly 90 minutes at all the tournament venues.

"That rain delay, plus the way that Bickel plays - with that grinder mentality of getting as much back at you with a variety of dinks, slices and his big serve - really got me off my game in that second set and for a little while in the third before I got back to playing the way I know I can to get out of that one with a big win."

Bickel won the second set 6-4.

At three-all in the third set, Galvin broke Bickel, then went ahead 5-3 after a long seventh game which featured four deuces and several loose points from both players before a tremendous first serve set up the winning point for Galvin, who won the decisive set 6-4.

"I am so glad I was off the court for about an hour," Galvin said. "I drank what felt like was a gallon of water, plus three pedialyte drinks (and) really worked to get my legs as loose as I could because I felt them getting tight toward the end of that Bickel match."

With his two wins, Galvin has assured himself of the highest state finish in Rolling Meadows program history. Doug Weber finished fifth overall in 1982.

The other side of the singles bracket will have Mark Wu (19-2) of Glenbrook North facing New Trier's Scott Bickel, who pulled out a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 win against Rockford Christian's Brandon Ancona in a tough quarterfinal matchup.

The season ended Friday morning for the other two teams from the Mid-Suburban League. Barrington freshman Dylan Er fell in straight sets to Kevin Li of Wheaton North, and the No. 1 doubles team from Conant, Nikhil Modak/Nico Rosas, was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Neuqua Valley's Nolan George/Jack Wu.

"Dylan had a great tournament in his first visit, and he has shown so much poise and composure during the last couple of weeks to help ensure a great future for himself in the next couple of years," said Barrington coach John Roncone at Wheeling, where his top player lost, 6-2, 6-4.

"I was really pleased with my first state tournament experience, and it was great to be playing so many good players, and to see what it takes at the next level," said Er, who finished with 23 wins.

Modak/Rosas were in the gallery to watch Galvin during his three-set victory over Bickel and took a few moments to comment on their two-day stay at the tournament.

"Obviously we would want to still be playing, but to stay alive into the second day and come away with 3 wins is something we both should be proud of," said Rosas, a sophomore Rosas, who was the MSL champ at No. 2 singles three weeks ago.

"It was a lot of fun for sure, and I think the reason we had a pretty good tournament was we picked each other up when we needed to, and for me, these two days are something I will always remember," said Modak, who will attend Illinois next fall.