PR senior seeded for state finals

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Prairie Ridge senior Craig Greenwald is the only area tennis player to be seeded at the IHSA State Finals, which begin Thursday in and around Arlington Heights.

Greenwald’s 17-32 seed affords him the luxury of not facing a seeded player until the third round. If Greenwald wins the first two rounds, he could see Hinsdale Central’s Augie Bloom, a 5-8 seed. Bloom finished third last year.  

Greenwald won both the Fox Valley Conference and Cary-Grove Sectional singles titles this year.

A total of 14 area players qualified for state, six singles players and four doubles teams. Many will face seeded players in the first and second rounds.

The Wolves’ No. 1 doubles team of Mitch MacArthur and Matt Miller will face an unseeded team from Mount Vernon in the first round at Prospect. If they win they could see Andy Walker and Carter Wheatley, a 17-32 seed from Lake Forest.

MacArthur said that from the competition he and Miller have seen this year, he thinks they are pretty decent. Miller lost in the second consolation round last year in singles. Both are aware that state is a different level and have set a realistic goal.

“Hopefully, we’ll win a couple matches at state,” MacArthur said.

Prairie Ridge’s No. 2 doubles team of Brandon Curtis and Quinn Revak could see the 3-4 seed from Glenbrook South in the second round.

Cary-Grove’s Chris Federighi will open with a 17-32 seed when he faces Joey Leto, a freshman from Downers Grove South.  

Trojans coach Bud Lachel said that Federighi getting state experience as a sophomore is great for the school’s program. Lachel said that if Federighi continues to progress the way he has from last year, he will be competing better against the higher level state players.

“With Chris being a sophomore, we’ve got a good thing going,” Lachel said. “A little more time and he’s going to be beating those people.”

In the “worst draw” category, Kenny Dolan and Scott Subak, Crystal Lake South’s No. 1 doubles team and Crystal Lake Central’s Tyler George are the winners. Both could face No. 2 seeds in the second round.

If Jacobs’ Tom Schreiner and Crystal Lake Central’s Tommy Nelson win their first-round matches, they could see each other in the second round. Both players drew first-round unseeded opponents.

The Gators’ other qualifying doubles team of Cam Laktash and Jared Favaro could see a 9-16 seed from Edwardsville in the second round.

Grayslake Central’s Mitch Granger will face Barrington freshman George Coll.