36 | May 9, 2019 | the lockport legend sports lockportlegend.com Boys Tennis Porters advance to final of home tourney against Ignatius LTHS takes second out of a total of 16 teams Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter The Lockport Township boys tennis team accomplished exactly what it wanted to last weekend. After a week clouded with a lot of rain and many cancellations, the Porters had perfect weather in the mid-60s for their own invite. There, they advanced to the finals, where they fell to a talented St. Ignatius team (10-1) by a 5-0 count on Saturday afternoon, May 4, at the LTHS tennis courts. After going 3-1 in the 16-team tournament, which was held at four different sites throughout the day, Lockport (15- 4) not only continued its excellent season, it tuned up for the big seasonending tournaments that start this week. Those are the SouthWest Suburban Conference Blue Division tourney and then the sectional, both of which Lockport is hosting. “Our doubles played really well throughout the day,” Lockport coach Bob Champlin said. “This [invite] is a learning experience. It’s all about experiencing playing higher competition. The higher level matches are the ones that get you ready.” The tourney was teambased. Four teams played at each site, with Challenge Fitness in Lockport, Joliet Catholic Academy and Lincoln-Way Central being the others. Lockport hosted the finals, so the Porters never had to move during the day. Just like in a dual meet, the team has to win to move on, so based on a team of three doubles players and two singles players, three of the five have to win to move on. “I like it, because it requires that we work together,” Champlin said of the format. “Tennis can be a very individual sport, but this way, you have to work as a team and win three matches. St. Ignatius is always one of the top teams and won 18 of its 20 matches on the day. We defeated Lincoln-Way Central 4-1 in the semifinals, and they have gotten a lot better. To finish second here is still nice.” When the Porters played at Lincoln-Way Central on April 11, they won 5-2, but a lot of the matches were close. It was the same last Saturday, as Lockport won 4-1 by pulling out a close one on the singles side. That was at No. 1 singles, where sophomore Quinn Robinson edged freshman Collin Bush 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 in the super tiebreaker. The Knights, who lost 5-0 to New Trier in the third-place match, did capture one of the singles matches. That was at No. 2, where junior TJ Edmier has a 6-2, 6-0 win over Dan Evans. The Porters, however, swept the doubles matches. Those were sophomores Peter Naylor and Douglas Blomquist, now 17-9 on the season, with a 6-1, 6-0 win over junior Michael Bloodgood and sophomore Matt Soldan at No. 1. At second doubles, it was junior Jared Kocolowski and senior Andrew Whetter with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over seniors Matthew Piltaver and Pat Winter. Then, at No. 3, Lockport won with seniors Jake Cala and John Evans going on to a 6-1, 6-2 win over senior Sebastian Reid and sophomore Dan Schaffer. “It was a good tournament, Naylor said. “It was our first year playing together at first doubles. It’s a good partnership and a good indicator of how we’re improving.” Bloomquist, who also played first doubles as a freshman last season, agreed that the invite was a good measuring stick. “This shows how much better we’ve got,” Bloomquist said. “It just makes us better players. It has been really positive playing doubles with each other.” With the tourney going long and teams like New Trier and St. Ignatius having some distance to travel, the final round was played under the pro set to eight format. While Lockport lost all of them, the doubles matches were competitive. Naylor and Bloomquist lost 8-6 to senior Sener Gunsel and junior Aeneas Hines. At second doubles, junior Henny Gunnison and senior Justin Ownes had an 8-4 win over Kocolowski and Whetter, and in an exciting third doubles match, it was seniors Christian Klein and Max Tiemann with an 8-7 (2) triumph over Cala and Evans. St. Ignatius swept the singles. At No. 1, it was senior Billy Taylor with an 8-1 win over Robinson. It was the same 8-1 score at second doubles, as junior Jamieson Katz defeated Evans. The Porters have won the SWSC Blue tourney three times in the past five years, but they will have to get past a Lincoln-Way East team that is the defending conference champion, to win it this season. Lockport is to host the conference tournament at 4 p.m. this Thursday, May 9, and then continue to play starting at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 11. Sectional play is scheduled to start on Friday, May 17, at the Lockport tennis courts. “We’re excited about the conference meet,” Naylor said. “We’re also very optimistic about the sectional. I think we should get the No. 2 seed.” Bloomquist is excited about the future, too. “We’re ready for the conference,” he said. “But not only that, we are looking forward to the years coming up, too.” Lockport had a second team entered at the invite, which was made up of some of the other varsity players and some of the JV squad. While that team went 1-3 on the day, the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles team, made up of JV players, went 4-0. This Week In... Lockport Township High School Varsity Athletics Baseball ■May ■ 11 host Elk Grove (DH), 10 a.m. ■May ■ 14 host Stagg, 4:30 p.m. ■May ■ 15 at Stagg, 4:30 p.m. Softball ■May ■ 11 host Oswego, 10 a.m. ■May ■ 14 host Sandburg, 4:30 p.m. Girls Soccer ■May ■ 14 at IHSA Regional, 4:30 p.m. ■May ■ 14 at IHSA Sectional, TBA Boys Volleyball ■May ■ 9 host Andrew, 5:30 p.m. ■May ■ 11 at Fremd Invite, 9 a.m. ■May ■ 14 host Bolingbrook (Senior Night), 5:30 p.m. Girls Track and Field ■May ■ 9 at IHSA Sectional, TBA Boys Tennis ■May ■ 9 host SWSC Tournament, 4 p.m. ■May ■ 11 host SWSC Tournament, 8:30 p.m. Boys Lacrosse ■May ■ 9 host Providence, 6 p.m. ■May ■ 11 at Washington, 1 p.m. Girls Lacrosse ■May ■ 11 host Hampshire, 11:30 a.m. ■May ■ 13 at Minooka, 6 p.m. A grand achievement Lockport Patriots Junior Division cheer named Grand Champion at competition RIGHT: Members of the Lockport Patriots Junior Division (ages 10-14) cheerleading team (top row, left to right) Emily Mendez, Emma Barden, Ava Binion, Kyra Jonikas, Melody Alleman, Mckenzie Maezes, coach Faith Williams, (bottom row, left to right) Morgan Ebert, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Carissa Alleman and Alondra Azpeita won overall Grand Champion April 28 at the Ignite Recreational Cheerleading Competition at Plainfield South High School. Photo submitted
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