Boys tennis: Fremd, Hersey claim sectional championships

Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Nikhil Joshi's name.

Mid-Suburban League boys tennis champion Fremd swept aside the competition Saturday to claim its own sectional title and second straight after overwhelming the eight-team field, including league rival Conant.

The Vikings will send all four of their teams into the Class 2A state tournament which begins Thursday, including senior Casey Hishinuma (21-4) who earned the third state appearance of his career.

"I feel like I've raised my level of play as the season has gone on, and that I'm ready to make a long run at state next weekend," said Hishinuma following his straight-set victory over teammate Andrew Spurck (6-2, 6-3) in the singles final to increase his chances of a 5-8 seed from the tournament committee.

Hishinuma will play next fall at Case-Western University, where he will major in Mechanical Engineering.

Spurck (22-4), who has enjoyed a wonderful rookie season thus far, will be joined by doubles teams Ryan Zheng-Arjun Srivasta (17-8) and Jason Sze-Amaye Shyani (9-1), who won their crown in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.

"This is a great bunch of guys to coach. They are so supportive of each other, and just a pleasure to be around," said Vikings coach Matt Duncan, whose club was runner-up last month at the prestigious Tom Pitchford Invite.

Conant will have its doubles teams Rameen Marzban-Roberto Macher (20-8) and Ankur Prasad-Nikhil Joshi (22-9) in the state field.

For Marzban-Macher, it will mark the second trip to the tournament.

Elgin senior, Matthew Sengphommachanh, who will play at North Central next season, took home third place honors following his victory over Lake Park freshman Oliver Kubicki (16-8) to become the first Maroons player to advance since 2015, when Josh Hagel-Andy Chai moved on after their sectional doubles title.

"Adjusting to the weather conditions, and playing against older and more experienced as a freshman have been my biggest challenges as a freshman," said Kubicki, who became the first Lancers freshman since 2016 to advance.

"Oliver truly loves playing tennis, and with each time out you see his confidence building as he gets more comfortable out there. He's been a terrific addition to our team and program," said Lancers head coach Tim Martin.

At Glenbrook South:

Max Sheldon and his teammates at doubles, his brother Mitch, and Kacper Pasielek provided the inspiration behind a record-setting day for Hersey, which won its first sectional title since 1994.

Sheldon, who overcame a marathon semifinal with Maine West star Kamil Kozerski, went on to defeat GBS senior Marc Bleckhman 6-4, 7-5 to win the singles crown and all but lock down the top seed at the 2A state tournament next week.

The Mitch Sheldon-Pasielek duo showed why they earned the No. 1 sectional seed after their 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 2 Daniel Deborin-Ben Soyfer of Glenbrook South to win the doubles title.

Pasielek will be making his second state appearance, while teammates Luke Bouvier-Josh Ryg are on their way for the first time after their fourth-place finish.

"To get all four of our teams into the state tournament and have Max, Mitch and Kacper win sectionals makes this an incredible day, so you can imagine today's post-tournament meeting was a little emotional for all of us," said an elated Huskies coach Andy Walton.

"We had a great run during the mid-to-late 80s from what I've been able to find, but today is a great day for all of our entire team, which was on hand to lend encouragement and support."

Hersey freshman Brent Chan (25-7) will join the state field at singles after his fourth-place finish.

"This is a real special group of players. It's exciting to be a part of a team that won a sectional title, while also advancing our entire team to state," said Max Sheldon (27-1), who had some nervous moments during his match with Kozerski (24-4), who was up 5-2 in the first set, only to have Sheldon roar back to win the next five games for the set.

"Kamil is a very good player, but it took me awhile to figure the wind out in our match, and once I did I let him make the unforced errors and mistakes," said Sheldon, of his 7-5, 7-5 defeat of Kozerski, now a two-time state qualifier.

Against Blekhman, who will play at Lehigh University next fall, Sheldon opened with a service break, then went on by holding serve with ease.

Sheldon would come back from a 4-2 deficit in the second set to win his first sectional crown.

"Max was really locked in. He navigated two very challenging matches today. He's just a real special young man," said Walton, who would heap plenty of praise on the Mitch Sheldon-Pasielek (23-6) team.

"Mitch and Kacper are both legit singles players in their own right, and would make nearly any school's singles lineup so the fact that we put them together, and have them win a sectional title is really amazing."

At Stevenson:

It was an all Barrington-Stevenson finals, but it was Stevenson that achieved success when play came to an end at the Stevenson sectional, played at the Vernon Hills Athletic Complex.

The reigning North Suburban Conference champions swept their longtime postseason rivals from Barrington at both flights, led by senior Eric Perkowski (13-3), who would defeat Broncos junior Pranav Gadiraju (17-5) in straight sets to capture the top spot at singles.

Ashvath Madhushankar (13-9) beat Fillies sophomore Devan Carse (11-3) in the third-place match to help the Patriots outscore Barrington 26-20.

"I feel like my game right now is much smoother and that I am playing simply smart tennis and that I might be the player who could come out and surprise the top seeds next week at state," said Perkowski, who as a freshman was state runner-up at doubles along with his then partner Prathinav Merneedi.

Perkowski, who will play next fall at Dayton where he will major in Mechanical Engineering, is now a three-time state qualifier.

"Pranav played a high level, but (Perkowski) was steady, and won a lot of the bigger points," offered Barrington coach John Roncone, who watched his No. 1 team, and top seed Ammar Wazer-Ethan Park (20-4) fall in straight sets to the Patriots' duo of Payton Adkisson-Daniel Tulchinsky (22-4) in the final to earn their second straight trip to state.

"Ammar and Ethan played well enough to beat most teams, but the Stevenson grit carried them through today, and we lacked the little bit of what we normally have," said Roncone.

Gabe Vistosky-Erwin Perkowski (19-8) from Stevenson, and Barrington's Gabe Mills-Vaarin Shroff (16-9) will both be making their first appearance at state.