Cold opener

Crystal Lake Central's Tyler George returns the ball during the first round of the IHSA Boys Tennis State Tournament on Thursday at Schaumburg High School. (Sandy Bressner - Shaw Suburban Media)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

Area boys tennis players battled the cold, wind and a few top-seeded players Thursday in the opening round of the IHSA State Tournament.

Cary-Grove’s Chris Federighi and Prairie Ridge’s doubles team of Connor Greenwald and Jack Hogan advanced to the third round before losing to high seeds, both from New Trier. Both advance to the fourth round of the consolation bracket today.

Also advancing to the second day was Marian Central’s doubles team of Conor Moon and Aaron Waters. Moon and Waters lost their first match but came back to win three times in the consolation bracket. For Crystal Lake South, Cam Laktash will open play today in the third consolation round against Grayslake North’s Nate Campanile.

Federighi struggled in his first two rounds, defeating Triad’s Alex Porter, 6-3, 6-4, and Andrew’s Kevin Karczynski, 6-2, 7-5. Karczynski pushed Federighi into a baseline game made all the more difficult with a strong wind.

For most of the second set, Federighi and Karczynski had difficulty holding serve and had 11 consecutive service breaks.

“Neither of us was serving poorly,” Federighi said. “It must have been something mental.”

In the third round, Federighi lost to No. 2 seed New Trier’s Jared Hiltzik, 6-3, 6-3. Federighi played well and credited his performance to not having any pressure playing against a top seed.

“I came out real loose,” Federighi said. “It was nice to loosen up and just get out and hit.”

Trojans coach Amanda Schuetzle said she wasn’t sure how Federighi would fare against Hiltzik after he struggled in his earlier matches.

“For [Federighi] to come off the tough two matches, that says even more about his game,” Schuetzle said. “I was pleased with how he stepped up and played.”

Greenwald and Hogan cruised through the first two rounds defeating Centralia’s Bryce Knolhoff and Devin Bates, 6-1, 6-0, and York’s Jeremy Loescher and Kyle Kopinski, 6-0, 6-4. In the third round, the Wolves’ pair lost to New Trier’s Drew Campbell and Thomas Fawcett, a 3-4 seed, 6-0, 6-3.

McHenry’s Jake Romme and Dave Robinson won their opening-round doubles match but came up short against a 5-8 seed in the second round. Highland Park’s David Zak and Jordan Hainsfurthe defeated the Warriors’ duo, 6-0, 6-0.

McHenry coach Kyle Funkhouser said despite the results, his team played possibly their best tennis of the year.

“They didn’t play bad at all,” Funkhouser said about his doubles team. “You’ve got to expect you’re going to play the top teams in the state.”

Also winning their first-round doubles matches were Crystal Lake Central’s Danny Nelson and Jake Lenhard and Hampshire’s Christian DelaCruz and Elisha Hougland.

Rain delayed the start of the tournament and the IHSA pushed the start to noon, instead of playing earlier indoors. That decision kept in place the back draw which would have been eliminated if moved indoors.

Funkhouser said it was a good decision and allowed a lot of area players to get more state matches.

“There’s a lot of players from our conference that are capable of winning two or three games in the back draw,” Funkhouser said.

Romme said playing in the windy and frigid conditions was better than playing indoors with a single elimination format.

“If we were playing inside, we’d be done,” Romme said after losing to Zak and Hainsfurthe. “I think it’s worth it.”