Patience pays as Stevenson excels
Bill Killinger had to kill time on Thursday morning.
For two hours … in a restaurant.
“I played Yahtzee,” Vernon Hills’ assistant boys tennis coach said.
Dicey weather — heavy rain, again, for what seemed like the 387th time this spring — delayed the start of a meet.
Thursday was Day 1 of the state meet.
Most of Stevenson’s netters, before their opening matches, headed to senior Ross Putterman’s house to stay dry and do one of four things:
Hang out, play video games, eat fruit, lose lots of Ping-Pong points to Patriots senior Ryan Buxbaum.
“Ryan, I’d have to say, is the best ping-pong player on our team,” said Buxbaum’s doubles partner in tennis, freshman Andrew Komarov.
“Crafty,” he added. “He’s crafty. And he’s got that will to win.”
Stevenson, with four state entrants, found ways to win nine matches and generate 18 points, after play commenced late Thursday morning.
Coach Tom Stanhope’s crew is in fifth place, behind three teams (Deerfield, Hinsdale Central and Oak Park-River Forest) with 22 points each and leader New Trier (24).
Warren, behind three championship-round doubles wins from seniors Eric Seiler/Nikola Trukov, sits in a tie for eighth place (13). The pair of Blue Devils will face Highland Park’s Tyler Manci/Zach Brint in a fourth-round match this morning at Prospect.
Stevenson’s Putterman and classmate David Packowitz — the top-seeded tandem — will also serve ’em up at Prospect in a Round of 16 test, against Marian Catholic’s Mitch Zavesky/Kyle Scheffers.
Putterman/Packowitz’s three matches on Thursday were 1-2-3 easy: 6-1, 6-0; 6-0, 6-0; and 6-1, 6-1.
But the windy conditions, after the rain mercifully ceased, made life on the court hard for many players.
Grayslake Central senior Mitch Granger lost for only the second time this spring, bowing 6-0, 6-4 to 5-8 seed Sam Bloom of Hinsdale Central in a third-round match at Hoffman Estates.
Bloom used devastatingly effective drop shots, particularly when the wind was whipping in his face.
“That Bloom guy, in about 7 points, hit these drops that were impossible to get,” said Rams coach Chuck Lawson. “Mitch hustled for them, but by the time he got up close, the ball – with the help of the wind – was in the net on Mitch’s side of the court.
“Bloom,” he added, “is so slick, so quick, and he has all the skills.”
Granger plays Rockford Auburn’s Branden Metzler in a consolation-round match this morning at Rolling Meadows.
Vernon Hills sophomore Ismail Kadyrov, Killinger’s Yahtzee foe, will battle Pekin’s Erik Smith at the same site. Kadyrov went 2-1 in Thursday’s action, downing Bradley-Bourbonnais’ Calvin Kang 6-1, 6-0 in the first round and Elgin Academy’s Christian Lynn 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the second round of the back draw.
“I was tight on my approach shots, and I was thinking too much,” the Cougar said of his 6-3, 6-4 second-round loss to Belleville West’s Max McLean.
“I learned some lessons today.”
Warren coach Greg Cohen wanted some points — 3 to 4 — from his No. 2s on Thursday. He got 3 points: junior Wesley Stoller, the team’s No. 2 singles player this spring, won a back-draw match (1 point); the No. 2 duo of Neel Desai/Matt Matheny topped a Lockport pair in the first round, good for 2 points.
The Blue Devils’ No. 1 singles player, sophomore Kristiyan Trukov (2-1 on Thursday), won his first two matches to live up to his seed (17-32).
Stevenson’s Buxbaum and Komarov, back on Tuesday, found out they’d get to face the tourney’s second-seeded doubles team (Lyons’ Jake Elliot/Danny Schuster), if they won their first two matches.
They did.
“We got excited when we saw the draw,” recalled Buxbaum. “We looked at it as an opportunity — a great opportunity — to play one of the best doubles teams in the state.”
The pair of Pats played inspired doubles, nearly forcing a third set. Elliot/Schuster advanced with a 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory.
Stevenson sophomore Jeremy Bush, seeded 9-16, did what the seeders expected him to do. Bush won a couple of easy matches before escaping with a 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 defeat of Downers Grove South’s Joey Leto in the third round. Bush gets to take on reigning state singles champ Robert Stineman of New Trier, this morning at Hersey.
Grayslake North junior Nate Campanile won two three-setters to earn more action on Friday morning. Next up for the Knight: Crystal Lake South’s Cam Laktash, in a third-round match at Conant.
Grant seniors Nick Battis/Dan Starkey lost both of their doubles matches Thursday.