High goals achieved

After rolling through sectional, Panthers look forward to state

On most occasions, an IHSA sectional is full of tension for the athletes involved as a berth in a state championship is on the line.

Rarely is it a truly carefree experience. Then there was the Oswego tennis sectional on Saturday, where the host Panthers turned the event into a glorified practice.

The finals in both the singles and doubles matches were all blue and orange, as Oswego not only won the sectional crown but advanced six players to tournament central at Hersey High School today.

"They're all friends, so they were goofing around out there, laughing and having a great time because at that point no one could reach us in points," head coach Linda Keely said. "It was really a thrill. The kids were so excited. We played some flawless tennis."

Junior Collin McWethy and senior Francesco Venafro qualified in singles and the teams of seniors Matt Smith and Dan Pitts and seniors Sean Wollenberg and Joe Lombardi made it in doubles.

McWethy will be competing for the third straight year at state while Venafro, an Italian transfer student, made it in his only year as a Panther.

Smith and Pitts will be making a return trip to state as well, and they admit that as juniors they weren't ready for the challenge.

"We're way more experienced this year," Smith said. "Our goal is to get top 32. I don't know if we'll be able to do that, but we're going to try very hard."

Heading into the year, Oswego wanted to win both the Suburban Prairie Conference and the Oswego Sectional. The Panthers did just that, and on the way sent six players to the start of the state tournament today.

"We set some pretty tough goals and so far we've reached all of our goals," Keely said. "So we've had to rethink things out."

With two entries in singles competition and two doubles teams, the focus has now turned to scoring points in the tournament.

"We don't want to just make it there," Keely said. "We want to do something once we get there."

As a team, the Panthers have a modest goal of reaching 10 points in the tournament. Of the 90 teams that recorded points in last year's final, 27 teams recorded at least 10 points. The Panthers scored three points last year. The school record is eight.

With no feeder programs, tennis usually gets a lot of sophomores coming out and learning the sport.

"It'll be a good thing because tennis in Oswego is getting a lot bigger," Lombardi said. "This should help out even more."