Sectional tennis: SHS' Williams, nine other area players qualify for trip to state tournament
Three singles players and one doubles team from the area advanced to the Class 2A Illinois High School Association boys state tennis finals. The top four placers in both singles and doubles earn a trip to state, which begins in various sites on Thursday-Saturday in the Chicagoland area.
Meanwhile, Sacred Heart-Griffin, Rochester and Jacksonville combined to advance five players to state, and the Cyclones won the team title at the Class 1A SHG Sectional at the Velasco Tennis Center in Washington Park on Saturday.
Here is a more in-depth look at the state qualifiers from this season:
CLASS 2A O’FALLON SECTIONAL
Singles
Noah Williams, Springfield High
The Central State Eight Conference singles champion took second place at the Class 2A O’Fallon Sectional, falling to Edwardsville’s Colton Hulme 6-3, 6-3 in the championship match.
Williams, the top seed, defeated fourth seed Ubaydah Mahmood of Chatham Glenwood in the semifinals 6-2, 6-1. Williams had lost just two games leading up to the semis.
It will be Williams’ fourth trip to the state finals. He went in singles in Class 1A as a freshman and teamed with 2023 SHS graduate David Lu in doubles the following two seasons.
Edwardsville won the sectional with 32 points and Springfield High and Glenwood tied for second place with 18.
Ubaydah Mahmood, Chatham Glenwood
Mahmood needed a three-set win over Belleville East’s Mason Ballard in the quarterfinals to reach his second-straight state tournament. He got to state in 1A last season, finishing second at the Chatham Glenwood Sectional.
Mahmood defeated Ballard 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-2 before losing to Williams in the semis. Mahmood settled for third place when teammate Ben Loeffler defaulted.
Ben Loeffler, Chatham Glenwood
As a No. 6 seed, Loeffler put together a good run to get to his first state singles draw. Loeffler defeated Quincy’s Ethan Stark 6-1, 6-2 in Round 2 before taking out third seed Ethan Moeller of Belleville East 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in the quarters.
Loeffler lost to Hulme 6-0, 6-1 in the semis before finishing fourth. He played doubles with graduate Joseph Doerfler last season, but the duo lost in the quarters of the Class 1A sectional tournament.
Doubles
Krish Khurana/James Oh, Springfield High
After going three sets and getting a scare in their second-round match, Khurana and Oh rebounded to beat Kevin Mackeen and Donovan O’Keefe of Belleville East 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals to advance to their first state finals as partners.
Khurana and Oh, seeded second, staved off unseeded Luke Boyd and James McKeever of Alton 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in Round 2. The CS8 Conference champs retired in the second set of the semifinals and lost to No. 4 Schaefer Bates and Isaac Chleboun of Edwardsville.
The Springfield duo then had to retire to O’Fallon’s Rowen Brunner and Ben VanAlstine in the third-place match.
CLASS 1A SACRED HEART-GRIFFIN SECTIONAL
Doubles
Luke Harvey/Evan Aleman, Sacred-Heart-Griffin
The doubles pair spearheaded SHG to the sectional title as the Cyclones won with 25 points. Harvey and Aleman, seeded third, won their first three matches in straight sets and defeated No. 4 seed Carter Manhart and Aidan Andris of Greenville 6-1, 6-4 in the championship match.
The SHG tandem dominated the second set in their semifinal match by beating top seed Andrew Martin and Ivan Powell of Greenville 7-5, 6-1.
This will be Harvey and Aleman’s first trip to state as doubles partners. Harvey was a two-time state qualifier with graduate Jeff Wernsing for two straight seasons, while Aleman went to state with Adam Wheeling in doubles last season.
Singles
Paxton Garland-Sutter, Rochester
The senior matched his CS8 tournament run by getting to the championship match at the sectional with a second-place finish.
Garland-Sutter, seeded second, romped to the title match by posting a 6-2, 6-1 victory over SHG’s Wheeling in the semifinals before losing in three sets to champion Alejandro Rodriguez of Mendon Unity 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
It’s Garland-Sutter's third trip to state when he went as a freshman and junior — and with his sectional placing — he helped Rochester finish third with 14 points in the team standings.
Adam Wheeling, Sacred Heart-Griffin
The junior defeated Hillsboro’s Mark Mattson in the quarterfinals before falling to Garland-Sutter in the semis.
Garland-Sutter's win over Wheeling was for revenge when Wheeling beat him in a third-set tiebreak in a dual meet on Apr. 10.
The third-seeded Wheeling grabbed third place, collecting a 6-2, 6-1 victory over fourth seed Christian Bonner of Jacksonville 6-2, 6-1.
Christian Bonner, Jacksonville
With his fourth-place showing, the senior broke through to get to his first state finals. Bonner was a 6-3, 6-2 winner over sixth seed Kaden Smith of SHG in the quarterfinals. Rodriguez then downed Bonner 6-0, 6-0 in the semis.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA boys tennis: SHG wins team title, 10 individuals make state
