Metea Valley hosting the second day of the DVC boys tennis championship. Three singles champs and four doubles crowns will be handed out. Let’s begin with number two doubles.
Two Doubles
Naperville Central duo David Wang and Kevin Ho facing Saahil Javeri and Jonah Grover from Neuqua Valley. Wang and Ho defeated Naperville North to make the final while the Wildcats knocked off Metea Valley. The Redhawks take set one 6-3.
But Javeri and Grover battle back to no surprise. The Wildcats force a third set by taking set two 6-4.
But Ho and Wang take control in the third set, winning the two doubles bracket for Naperville Central in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Shankar Jambunathan and Matt Chen from Metea Valley take third.
One Doubles
A big time matchup in one doubles between Tyler Beck and Jack Considine from Neuqua Valley against Daanyal Saeed and Blake Roegner from Naperville Central. Neuqua took the win in this matchup last month.
The Redhawks roll through the first set 6-2 behind a nice return from Roegner as he smashes himself a point.
But as they have all year long, Neuqua has a response and Central can’t corral this Considine serve. Set two heads to a tie breaker.
Roegner and Saeed use patience to secure the win, waiting for the spinning serve and then smashing home the win in two sets. Nikunj Tyagi and Akshay Baid from Metea Valley take third.
Three Singles
Number three singles is between Adam Oppenheim from Naperville North and Andrew Chen from Neuqua Valley. Oppenheim in the near court has several good returns, but Chen takes advantage of a tired opponent after Oppenheim needed a three set tie breaker to make the final. The Wildcat wins three singles 6-1, 6-0.
Two Singles
Two singles is also a Huskie vs Wildcat matchup with Luke Fernandez from North and Naveen Bagchi from Neuqua going head to head.
Fernandez using the backhand well as his second return is out of Bagchi’s reach for the point.
But the Wildcat senior wins out in the end, forcing the error in route to a two set victory 6-1, 7-5. Three more points for the blue and gold.
Let’s look into the third place match in two singles between Pranav Inamputi from Waubonsie Valley and Aadit Gandhi from Metea Valley.
After Gandhi takes the first set, the Warrior rebounds nicely in set two thanks to strong serves like this. The ace helps force a third set.
A great battle between these Eola road rival goes back and forth, but Gandhi is able to force Inamputi to chase all over the court until he runs out of space to get a return back over. The Mustang takes the 1.5 third place points for his team.
One Singles
Let’s wrap up with one singles. The third place match first with Elliot Dam from Waubonsie Valley against Zach Slade from Naperville North.
Dam is no stranger to big comebacks and lengthy matches, after dropping set one 4-6, the Warrior wins set two 6-4. Another tie breaker coming up.
In another marathon match, Slade is able to outlast his opponent. The Huskie wins the third set tie breaker 7-5, helping Naperville North finish in third place as a team.
The singles championship has Vincent Yin from Naperville Central against Neuqua Valley freshman phenom Johnny Mou. Yin was not playing singles back when these teams met last month, so this is a first time matchup.
It’s a tight opening set but Mou takes it 6-4 thanks to a great forehand he spins down the line that Yin can’t return.
As rain begins to fall in the second set, Yin fights back and finds his footing. Solid returns and a fantastic forehand shot forces a third set. Because of the steady rain, the final set had to be played the following afternoon.
A new day and a new DVC singles champion is crowned. Johnny Mou takes the title for Neuqua Valley, winning the singles championship 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. The Wildcats also win the DVC boys tennis team championship while Naperville Central finishes as the runner up.
For more prep sports content, visit our Naperville Sports Weekly page!