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Chatham Glenwood experienced minimum pitfalls along the way and won its second straight Central State Eight Conference boys tennis tournament championship on Monday, May 18.
The only mild setback on the Titans’ title run was the waiting and the weather as the two-day tournament was suspended on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville because of rain. The action was moved Monday to the west-side indoor facility of the Springfield Racquet and Fitness Center.
The heavily-favored Titans finished with 28 points and won the singles and doubles draws. Springfield High was second with 16 points and Normal U-High took third with 13. Sacred Heart-Griffin had 12 points, followed by Jacksonville (9), Rochester (3), Lanphier (2) and Southeast (0). The back draw that included the fifth-place matches, were not completed due to the weather.
Despite being favored, Glenwood coach Sonthana Thongsithavong stated nothing was taken for granted.
“It still was a pretty tough conference,” Thongsithavong said. “Even though we were favored, we never thought that we were favored because we know what the other teams are capable of. If we won it, I thought it would be slight.
“But with 28 points, it shows that we are hitting our stride at the right time with confidence and with good hitting. I wouldn’t say we played flawless, but we played well. Our expectations are pretty high this season anyway, but to see how we finished is icing on the cake.”
More: Staunton's Brown uses 94 mph pitch for D-I commitment to Cincinnati
Glenwood dropped 16 points and controlled the singles draw with No. 1 seed Ben Loeffler repeating as champion, and fifth seed Connor Pollitt stepping into the spotlight and navigating his way to the championship match.
Loeffler opened his tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Rochester’s Timothy Lee, who won his first-round match in straight sets. Loeffler then defeated No. 6 Bennett Nelson 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals before Pollitt defaulted to Loeffler in the title match.
Pollitt’s magical run started when he downed unseeded Lennox Davidsmeyer of Jacksonville 6-0, 6-1 in the first round. Pollitt then took down U-High's Ian Shin, the fourth seed, 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. That led to the biggest upset of the tournament when Pollitt knocked off No. 2 seed Adam Wheeling, of Sacred Heart-Griffin, 6-4, 6-2.
Pollitt’s confidence has soared recently, and there was a blink of his ascent when he finished second in the No. 2 singles draw at the J.D. Sinnock Invitational on April 25. But Glenwood coach Sonthana Thongsithavong said the CS8 tournament was where Pollitt showed what he could do.
“This tournament boosted his confidence big time,” Thongsithavong said. “I think that (the J.D. Sinnock) was the catalyst, but I think even after that tournament, he still had some doubt because he is familiar with the (CS8) opponents.
“The (quarterfinal) win against Ian (Shin) from U-High really boosted his confidence. We had a really good game plan against Ian. We know what Adam (Wheeling) possesses and what his skill set is — big serve, big forehand. With the rain delay on Saturday and Sunday, I came up with the game plan against Adam. Pollitt became a pusher and that got him out of his comfort zone. It’s going to be interesting to see how high he’s going to be seeded at sectionals."
More: Vote here for The State Journal-Register's next athlete of the week
Wheeling defeated Nelson 6-2, 6-1 in the third-place match. Nelson’s journey to the semis included a 6-1, 2-0 (ret.) win over unseeded Kaden Smith of SHG in the quarterfinals. Smith, who retired against Nelson, recorded the first singles upset by beating No. 3 seed Cole Nebel of Jacksonville 6-4, 6-3 in the first round on Friday.
The top four seeds in doubles advanced to the semifinals, but it was the much-anticipated rematch between Glenwood and Springfield High that drew the most attention.
The Glenwood duo of Talha Arshad and Aarav Patel had already bested the Springfield pair of Shrihan Aleti and Jai Khurana 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the semifinals of the No. 1 doubles draw at the J.D. Sinnock Invitational that propelled them to the title in April.
The Senators flexed and held up their end of the bargain of a rematch by losing just one game in their first three tournament matches. The second-seeded team collected wins over Lincoln’s Brycen Falcon and Camden Lake (6-0, 6-0) and Jacksonville’s Riley Hager and Eli Helmich (6-0, 6-0) in the first and quarterfinal rounds. Aleti and Khurana then blitzed fourth seed Bryce Boester and Parker Kim of U-High 6-0, 6-1 in the semis.
Glenwood was prepared as well. After a first-round bye, the top-seeded Arshad and Patel, coasted to wins by defeating SHG’s Joseph Bertaina and Charlie Unal 6-1, 6-0 before downing third seed Ansh Gupta and Parker Martin of U-High 6-2, 6-0 in the semis.
That set the stage for the final, and Aleti and Khurana quickly erased a 3-0 first-set deficit and struck first, taking it 7-5. But Arshad and Patel stormed back, winning the final two sets 6-0, 6-2.
Thongsithavong noted that his top doubles team stayed the course.
“After the first set, I told the boys, ‘Don’t change anything, stick with the game plan,’” he said. “Maybe be a little more aggressive at the net, but we didn’t change the game plan and in the third set we had momentum.
“We were a little more aggressive from the baseline. I just had to remind them to trust each other and after that we were just rolling. Even in the second and third sets, Springfield High still made shots. It’s not like they just gave up; they came and made some shots, and it was like, wow. I don’t think we let up. I think we actually got stronger after we lost 7-5 in the first set. We didn’t panic.”
The win gave Arshad his first CS8 doubles title after he got to the championship match with graduate Will Ehrlich last season and lost to Jai and his older brother, Krish Khurana.
In the third-place match, Gupta and Martin defeated Boester and Kim 8-3 in a pro-set.
Contact Trevor Lawrence: 788-1548, [email protected].
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: CS8 Boys Tennis Meet | Glenwood sweeps to conference championship
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The only mild setback on the Titans’ title run was the waiting and the weather as the two-day tournament was suspended on Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville because of rain. The action was moved Monday to the west-side indoor facility of the Springfield Racquet and Fitness Center.
The heavily-favored Titans finished with 28 points and won the singles and doubles draws. Springfield High was second with 16 points and Normal U-High took third with 13. Sacred Heart-Griffin had 12 points, followed by Jacksonville (9), Rochester (3), Lanphier (2) and Southeast (0). The back draw that included the fifth-place matches, were not completed due to the weather.
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Despite being favored, Glenwood coach Sonthana Thongsithavong stated nothing was taken for granted.
“It still was a pretty tough conference,” Thongsithavong said. “Even though we were favored, we never thought that we were favored because we know what the other teams are capable of. If we won it, I thought it would be slight.
“But with 28 points, it shows that we are hitting our stride at the right time with confidence and with good hitting. I wouldn’t say we played flawless, but we played well. Our expectations are pretty high this season anyway, but to see how we finished is icing on the cake.”
More: Staunton's Brown uses 94 mph pitch for D-I commitment to Cincinnati
Titans rack up singles points
Glenwood dropped 16 points and controlled the singles draw with No. 1 seed Ben Loeffler repeating as champion, and fifth seed Connor Pollitt stepping into the spotlight and navigating his way to the championship match.
Loeffler opened his tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Rochester’s Timothy Lee, who won his first-round match in straight sets. Loeffler then defeated No. 6 Bennett Nelson 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals before Pollitt defaulted to Loeffler in the title match.
Pollitt’s magical run started when he downed unseeded Lennox Davidsmeyer of Jacksonville 6-0, 6-1 in the first round. Pollitt then took down U-High's Ian Shin, the fourth seed, 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. That led to the biggest upset of the tournament when Pollitt knocked off No. 2 seed Adam Wheeling, of Sacred Heart-Griffin, 6-4, 6-2.
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Pollitt’s confidence has soared recently, and there was a blink of his ascent when he finished second in the No. 2 singles draw at the J.D. Sinnock Invitational on April 25. But Glenwood coach Sonthana Thongsithavong said the CS8 tournament was where Pollitt showed what he could do.
“This tournament boosted his confidence big time,” Thongsithavong said. “I think that (the J.D. Sinnock) was the catalyst, but I think even after that tournament, he still had some doubt because he is familiar with the (CS8) opponents.
“The (quarterfinal) win against Ian (Shin) from U-High really boosted his confidence. We had a really good game plan against Ian. We know what Adam (Wheeling) possesses and what his skill set is — big serve, big forehand. With the rain delay on Saturday and Sunday, I came up with the game plan against Adam. Pollitt became a pusher and that got him out of his comfort zone. It’s going to be interesting to see how high he’s going to be seeded at sectionals."
More: Vote here for The State Journal-Register's next athlete of the week
Wheeling defeated Nelson 6-2, 6-1 in the third-place match. Nelson’s journey to the semis included a 6-1, 2-0 (ret.) win over unseeded Kaden Smith of SHG in the quarterfinals. Smith, who retired against Nelson, recorded the first singles upset by beating No. 3 seed Cole Nebel of Jacksonville 6-4, 6-3 in the first round on Friday.
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Doubles stay true to form
The top four seeds in doubles advanced to the semifinals, but it was the much-anticipated rematch between Glenwood and Springfield High that drew the most attention.
The Glenwood duo of Talha Arshad and Aarav Patel had already bested the Springfield pair of Shrihan Aleti and Jai Khurana 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the semifinals of the No. 1 doubles draw at the J.D. Sinnock Invitational that propelled them to the title in April.
The Senators flexed and held up their end of the bargain of a rematch by losing just one game in their first three tournament matches. The second-seeded team collected wins over Lincoln’s Brycen Falcon and Camden Lake (6-0, 6-0) and Jacksonville’s Riley Hager and Eli Helmich (6-0, 6-0) in the first and quarterfinal rounds. Aleti and Khurana then blitzed fourth seed Bryce Boester and Parker Kim of U-High 6-0, 6-1 in the semis.
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Glenwood was prepared as well. After a first-round bye, the top-seeded Arshad and Patel, coasted to wins by defeating SHG’s Joseph Bertaina and Charlie Unal 6-1, 6-0 before downing third seed Ansh Gupta and Parker Martin of U-High 6-2, 6-0 in the semis.
That set the stage for the final, and Aleti and Khurana quickly erased a 3-0 first-set deficit and struck first, taking it 7-5. But Arshad and Patel stormed back, winning the final two sets 6-0, 6-2.
Thongsithavong noted that his top doubles team stayed the course.
“After the first set, I told the boys, ‘Don’t change anything, stick with the game plan,’” he said. “Maybe be a little more aggressive at the net, but we didn’t change the game plan and in the third set we had momentum.
“We were a little more aggressive from the baseline. I just had to remind them to trust each other and after that we were just rolling. Even in the second and third sets, Springfield High still made shots. It’s not like they just gave up; they came and made some shots, and it was like, wow. I don’t think we let up. I think we actually got stronger after we lost 7-5 in the first set. We didn’t panic.”
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The win gave Arshad his first CS8 doubles title after he got to the championship match with graduate Will Ehrlich last season and lost to Jai and his older brother, Krish Khurana.
In the third-place match, Gupta and Martin defeated Boester and Kim 8-3 in a pro-set.
Contact Trevor Lawrence: 788-1548, [email protected].
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: CS8 Boys Tennis Meet | Glenwood sweeps to conference championship
Continue reading...
