Boys tennis: Barrington's winning ways continue against Conant
Fresh off its title won at the Knight Invite last weekend, defending Mid-Suburban League boys tennis champion Barrington brushed aside Buffalo Grove on Tuesday and division rival Conant Thursday afternoon on the Broncos' home courts.
The Broncos' 7-0 victory is their second of the week, and sends the MSL West front-runner into the high profile Jay Kramer Invite at host Hinsdale Central Saturday on a high note, one week after lifting the trophy in Mount Prospect over 2018 state runner-up New Trier.
"We're looking forward to the big challenge that's ahead of us this weekend, and we'll find out a lot about our team when it's over," said Broncos coach John Roncone, who will be without his No. 1 singles player, Bradley Yu, who will playing at a USTA tournament, as will a handful of others from the eight-team field at Hinsdale.
Sophomore Ammar Wazir, who will take over for his teammate Yu on Saturday, won his match with Conant's Rameen Marzban 6-1, 6-2 Thursday to get the Broncos off and running.
"My serve is much better this season, and so is my ground strokes, so I feel my overall game has improved from a year ago," said Wazir, who was a state qualifier in his rookie season. "We have a solid team this year and I know for me, I am really looking forward to playing at Hinsdale this weekend."
Wazir's teammate at No. 3 singles, Niyanth Puliyaya, won in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) over Anthony Milas in an entertaining contest, while at No. 1 Yu won by default.
Conant (8-3, 0-1) is playing short-handed with two of its best currently on the injured list. Four-year starter Vera Iyer is out indefinitely as the Cougars' No. 1 player, while senior Shashank Yerraguntia is sidelined as well. Iyer is a three-time state qualifier while Yerraguntia was a state qualifier at doubles along with Nico Rosas, who is now at the University of Iowa.
"We have four freshmen in our starting lineup, and a terrific core of returning players to give us the best team we've had during my seven years as head coach but our biggest concern is to be healthy in time for conference then sectionals," said Conant coach Dave Koleno.
The Cougars, who won the Wheaton North Invite this season, will look to defend their crown at the Latin School Invite on Saturday at the Waveland Courts along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.
Koleno's No. 1 doubles team of Kaahan Motwani-Andrew Milas had Dylan Er-Matt D'Amore on the ropes in their first set Thursday, until the Broncos' duo came to life late in the first set to win 7-5, before going on to claim the second 6-0.
"That's a really good Conant team, but we were not hitting our shots early on, but after we settled in and just played relaxed we were able to win the big points when we needed to," said D'Amore.
"Playing well toward the end of the first set just carried on through and we used that momentum all throughout the second set," said Er, who along with D'Amore finished second behind New Trier at the Knight Invite.
Kyle Shuff-Pranav Gadiraju, who won last weekend at No. 2 doubles, continued their winning ways with a straight-set victory over Roberto Macher-Yousuf Hassan, 6-4, 6-4, while teammates Aryan Sharma-Ethan Paik (No. 3) and Brent Li-Timmy Lowe at No. 4, recorded straight-set victories to ensure a sweep at the doubles flight.
Lowe was an MSL champ last season at No. 4 doubles.