Naperville North boys tennis impresses in both singles and doubles to defeat the Metea Valley Mustangs on the road. This highlight is sponsored by BMO Harris Bank.
Metea Valley boys tennis welcomes Naperville North to the home of the Mustangs on a sunny afternoon. It’s been a couple weeks since the last conference matchup for both teams after storms washed out last week’s contests.
Metea Valley gets strong performances from one and two singles
Let’s begin with singles play and the number ones. Sophomore Aarush Bhardwaj taking on freshman Ameya Tyagi for Metea Valley.
Tyagi serving in the far court to start things off. We see a nice rally back and forth as Bhardwaj gradually moves towards the net as the point goes along. Tyagi lunges to his right to lob a return before the Huskie slams it down for the point.
However, the young Mustang would recover well. Tyagi in the near court now as he sends a strong forehand return, followed by a quick strike to the open court for the point. Tyagi takes the win in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
Now over to number three singles with Aaron Young from Naperville North and Anurag Rakesh from Metea.
Young serving first. He goes on to charge the net and use a slick backhand to get the point down to win the first set.
Rakesh serving now in the far court with some good power. He then pops a well placed return right near the back line that Young is unable to send back over the net.
After winning the first set 6-3, Aaron Young catches his opponent off-guard with an ace and makes it a straight set victory, 6-2, 6-2.
Now over to number three singles where Jack Jordan from Metea Valley takes on fellow junior, Alex Maitland.
The Huskie serves in the far court as the players send a couple of lobs back and forth. Maitland with a nice return that Jordan can not get his racquet on, despite being up at the net.
Jordan goes on to win the first set and now serves in the far court. The Mustang uses several lobs and shows a good deal of spin on the ball to keep Maitland from being able to get too aggressive on his returns. Maitland tries to cut a backhand across the court, but Jordan delivers a strong two-handed backhand for the point. Jordan takes the win in two sets 6-3, 6-0.
Naperville North sweeps the four doubles matches
In one doubles, it’s Nathan Lee and Dovy Jasinauskas from Naperille North against Jash Kadakia and Pranav Swaminathan from Metea Valley.
Kadakia serves in the far court but Jasinauskas unleashes an absolute rocket with the left hand down the line for the point. The Huskies take set one 6-3.
Kadakia serving again in the far court, going back and forth with Nathan Lee. After a short volley, Swaminathan steps in for the smash to split the court for the point.
Again Kadakia going back and forth with Lee, but look at where the Huskie senior puts this return, yanking this backhand across the court while keeping the ball inbounds. Nothing the Mustangs can do with that shot as Naperville North takes one doubles 6-3, 6-2.
In two doubles, Luke Fernandez playing doubles for the first time this season with veteran partner Akash Bansal against Mustangs Riley Teo and Rishabh Railkar.
Teo serving in the near court to Fernandez. The Metea senior with a good return that forces the error from Bansal who finds the net. The point goes in favor of the black and gold.
Teo still on the serve, Fernandez with a shot right at Railkar who somehow gets his racquet up and the ball back over, but that allows Fernandez to go right back at him for the point down the line. Huskies take set one 6-2.
Naperville North in full control in set two and feeling good as Bansal fires an ace to wrap things up with a 6-2, 6-0 win in straight sets. Naperville North takes the team victory by a 5-2 score over Metea Valley.
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