Naperville North boys tennis travels to Neuqua Valley for the final DVC matchup of the regular season. North looks to respond after losing their first DVC contest of the year against Waubonsie Valley a week ago. Neuqua looks to continue to build momentum coming off a win over DeKalb before the DVC championship next week. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Naperville North boys tennis wins the one doubles and one singles matches against Neuqua
Beginning with one doubles with Wildcats Ricky Kim and Evan Yang taking on Huskies Aaron Yang and Aarush Bhardwaj.
After the Wildcat serves, Evan Yang attacks the Husky returns at the net, which starts a back-and-forth. Yang goes up high as his shot bounces past the two Huskies for the point.
Later in the set, Bhardwaj’s return bounces towards the backline as Kim sends it right back over. Bhardwaj’s return goes high into the air, but remains in play for the score.
Naperville North serves in the far court as Neuqua sends back a quick return. Aaron Yang is waiting by the net and pounces to smash the point home for the Huskies. North wins the first set 6-3 as they look for the two-set victory.
Going down to the wire, Kim and Bhardwaj start a rally with multiple corner shots. Aaron Yang steps in front of Kim’s return, getting his ball just over the net for the winning point. The Huskies complete the sweep by the score of 6-4 in set two.
Ritvik Korrapatti from North and Neuqua’s Shaurya Kandhari match up in one singles.
Korrapatti and Kandhari begin with a rally from the backline. Korrapatti approaches the net and gets it over the net for the point.
Another back-and-forth begins after the serve from Korrapatti. Kandhari puts an end to the rally with a rapid return that the Huskie cannot return.
After a 7-5 first set victory, Korrapati looks close out the victory in set two for the Huskies. Korrapati plays it short to drop the ball in for the point. Korrapati goes on to win the second set, 6-3
Ibrahim Faruqi puts the Wildcats on the board
Ending off the singles matches with Neuqua’s Ibrahim Faruqi and North’s Max Buxbaum in three singles. The Huskies look to sweep singles after a win from Yanson Lew in two singles.
The two go at it with a long-range rally. Buxbaum approaches the net and plays it short, which Faruqi steps up to keep the rally going. Faruqi puts his shot back towards the right, where Buxbaum is unable to get to for the point.
Buxbaum and Faruqi move around the court well while rallying back and forth. While close to the net, Faruqi scores off another smart shot by playing it short for the score. Faruqi gets the two-set victory 6-2 for the first Wildcat win of the day.
The final match of the afternoon comes at two doubles between Noah Eun and Aayush Puntamberak representing Naperville North and the Wildcats, Boris Sirotkin and Jayden Chiou.
After the serve, Puntamberak plays it short as Sirotkin quickly approaches the net to play it short for the point. Neuqua takes set one by a 6-3 score.
Moments later, Eun serves for the Huskies, which starts a back-and-forth between Eun and Chiou. Puntamberak’s shot bounces in between the Wildcats for the point. After splitting the first two sets, we’re going to a ten-point tiebreaker set.
Going down to the wire, Chiou goes up high for the return as the Huskies can’t keep the point alive.
Nearing match point, Puntamberek drops to the back to keep the rally going. Chiou gets the difficult acrobatic return over before Eun sends it right back while at the net. The Wildcat return hangs in the air, allowing Eun to slam his shot down for the score. That puts the Huskies up 9-8. North goes on to win the tiebreaker 10-8 after a Neuqua serving error. Naperville North boys tennis gets the hard-fought victory against Neuqua Valley, 5-2.
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