Boys state tennis: Players to watch
Springfield High won its fourth straight sectional last Saturday and the Senators are sending two doubles teams and one singles player to the Class 1A Illinois High School Association boys state tennis finals in the Chicago suburbs.
Sacred Heart-Griffin is sending two doubles teams, while Chatham Glenwood and Rochester will each have one singles player to represent the Central State Eight Conference in the draw.
Palatine High School hosts the three-day tournament that begins Thursday and concludes on Saturday.
Here are the area’s players to watch at this season’s meet.
Doubles
Noah Williams/David Lu, Springfield High
Williams and Lu enters the state meet with an undefeated record and claims the No. 2 seed in the doubles draw. They won the CS8 Conference and sectional doubles titles for the second straight season.
As a 3-4 seed, the duo reached the state quarterfinals in 2022, losing to eventual champion Will Benford and Sam Cutinho of Chicago Latin 7-5, 7-6 (3). Williams and Lu regrouped and won three more matches to finish in fifth place with a 6-1 record.
Sophomores Zach Bobofchak and Hugh Davis of Lisle Benet Academy earned this season’s No. 1 seed. Zach Bobofchak and Davis played singles last season, and it was Noah Bobofchak and Andrew Donovan who got to the title match for Lisle Benet and lost to Benford and Cutinho for the championship.
Springfield goes into the tournament with plenty of confidence after last season’s success. Thanks to Williams and Lu, the Senators finished tied for eighth with five other teams. They are hoping for something bigger this season.
“Since we played so well this season, I hope we get an even better seeding than last time, and hopefully, we can clinch out the win,” said Lu, after last Saturday’s Chatham Glenwood Sectional.
“I’m really proud of the team this year because we have a lot more kids coming this time,” Lu added. “We brought three kids to state last time, and now we have five going. I’m proud of everyone who has improved. We have Bryce (Pound) and Will (Wang) as our No. 2 (doubles) team this year. We’re planning to win.”
Williams, a junior, is making his third state appearance. He placed in the top 24 as a singles player during his freshman season. Lu, a senior, played singles his sophomore year and is also competing at state for the third straight time.
“I am very proud of these boys,” Springfield coach Jarod Ingebrigtsen said. “They have come together as a team and been there for each other throughout this season. (The sectional) was a true team effort and a testament to their commitment throughout the year. They are a great group of boys, who just happen to be great high school tennis players.”
Jeff Wernsing/Luke Harvey, Sacred Heart-Griffin
The SHG tandem has been one of the area’s top doubles teams all season and it got them a 9-16 seed heading into state.
Unlike last season when Wernsing and Harvey built a formidable team late, the two had more time to build chemistry this time around.
Wernsing, a senior, and the junior Harvey, finished second behind Williams and Lu in both the CS8 and sectional tournaments and placed fourth in the No. 1 doubles flight of the J.D. Sinnock Invitational.
The pair will attempt to have some success at state after going 0-2 last season.
Evan Aleman/Adam Wheeling, Sacred Heart-Griffin
The young unseeded doubles team will compete at its first state meet after taking third place at the sectional as a fourth seed.
Aleman and Wheeling showed signs of a possible state appearance when they placed fourth at the CS8 tournament on May 13. The sophomore Aleman has been SHG’s top singles player all season and Wheeling, a freshman, competed in the No. 2 slot.
The draw did the duo no favors as they open state with a match against No. 5 seed Marc Froidcoeur and Dillon Henderson of Troy Triad in the first round.
Bryce Pound/Will Wang, Springfield High
Pound and Wang needed a big comeback in the sectional quarterfinals to earn the final doubles spot to state.
The seniors advanced to their first state tournament when they rallied from a 4-6, 2-5 deficit to defeat Glenwood’s Joseph Doerfler and Ben Loeffler 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3. Pound and Wang eventually finished fourth at the sectional after taking third place at the CS8 meet the week before.
“One of the things we did was we just didn’t give up,” Wang said, of the sectional quarterfinal. “Somewhere in my head, I was like, ‘what if we lose.’ “I didn’t want to think of it. I worked so hard over the year and come a long way — wanted to end my last chance on a strong note. We pulled through and brought the energy in the tiebreak. We were just really aggressive at the net.”
SINGLES
Ubaydah Mahmood, Chatham Glenwood
The junior has been a well-known player in the area yet is making his first trip to the state meet after placing second at the sectional.
Mahmood defeated Springfield sophomore Krish Khurana 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a 3-hour, 25-minute sectional semifinal match. Mahmood then fell to top seed Marko Cucuk of Quincy Notre Dame 6-2, 6-2 in the final.
Khurana had defeated Mahmood in straight sets at the CS8 meet, and Mahmood hadn’t broken through against Khurana until last weekend.
“That was a tough test for me,” Mahmood said, of the semifinal. “The past two times I played him, I lost. I was focusing on that match and getting to state, the third time was the charm. I really liked that my team was behind me and supporting me nonstop.”
As for state?
“It’s really exciting,” he said. “I’ve tried to put a lot of work into going up there. I can’t wait to see how good the competition is, just go up there and have fun.”
The unseeded Mahmood will be tested early when he faces senior and 5-8 seed Bryton Short of Metamora in the first round.
Krish Khurana, Springfield High
The sophomore won his first CS8 singles crown and reached his second state finals after beating Rochester’s Paxton-Garland Sutter 6-3, 6-2 for third place at the sectional.
Khurana won a match in the championship bracket and went 1-2 at state last season. He said he was hoping to win the CS8 and sectional tournaments to get a seed this season. But his marathon loss to Mahmood in the sectional semifinals, was a small setback before regrouping to take third.
“I came back in the third-place match and got the job done,” Khurana said. “I was just thinking how I'm going to bounce back and show everybody that (the loss) was just one blip.”
Paxton Garland-Sutter, Rochester
The junior is making his second trip to state in singles after advancing during his freshman season. Garland-Sutter won a match in the championship bracket and finished 1-2 in 2021.
As a No. 5 seed, he pulled out a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) win over fourth seed Talha Arshad of Glenwood in the sectional quarterfinals last Friday to qualify for state. Garland-Sutter didn’t place the week before at the CS8 tournament.
His return to singles paid off after missing state when he played doubles with Preston Koontz and the pair lost in the sectional quarterfinals in three sets to Jerseyville last season.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Boys state tennis: Players to watch
