WV's Shepard destroys the field

AURORA -- Neuqua Valley's boys tennis team may have dominated the West Aurora Sectional Saturday, but there was no more impressive individual performance than that of Waubonsie Valley senior Mandela Shepard.

Shepard destroyed the field en route to the singles title and a berth in next week's state meet. Shepard lost only six games in cruising to the win, his toughest test coming in the finals from Neuqua senior Amrit Bhaskarla, 6-2, 6-2. Shepard adds the sectional crown to his Upstate Eight Conference title, earned last week.

The win erased the disappointment of falling in the first round of sectionals as a junior.

"I think that loss made him a little hungry," Waubonsie Valley coach Phil Galow said. "He's constructing his points right, taking advantage of people's weaknesses and he's winning."

Shepard's win over Bhaskarla was aided by 46 unforced errors from Bhaskarla. Shepard rolls to the state tournament with a 29-4 record, knocking on the door of a school record.

"Hopefully we'll get a decent draw and we'll go over our goals and go at it on Thursday," Galow said.

Neuqua piled up an impressive 24 team points in advancing all four of its entries to the state meet. The Wildcats showed their dominance particularly in doubles.

Sophomore Skeeter Plowman and junior Chase Perry topped senior teammates Joe Pulka and Brent Handy for the doubles title. Bhaskarla and senior Jose Cadena (fourth) each advanced in singles play, as well.

While teams such as Batavia and West Aurora watched its state dreams come to an end, Marmion senior Tom Weiler ended four years of frustration by placing third in singles and finally advancing to state.

"He's been disappointed in the past," Marmion coach Pat Maurer said. "But he's played better this year than last. He's very excited and very happy and I know he's very proud of himself."

Weiler, whose mother, Maureen, is the girls tennis coach at Geneva, went through some struggles en route to his state berth. He needed three sets to top Cadena for third, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6. That came after Bhaskarla knocked him out of the title match with a 6-2, 6-1 win. Bhaskarla knocked Weiler out of state contention as a junior.

Weiler also needed three sets to win in the third round to finally reach the state meet. Weiler enters the state meet with a 14-4 mark, with two of those losses coming to St. Francis star Kyle Dawson.

"The best thing I can tell you is he is a fighter and he doesn't give up easy, and that was evident today," Maurer said. "The thing is that Tom gets defeated, but he finds a way to win the next match. A lot of times, players will lose and that will take them out the rest of the day. He finds a way to win."

IMSA continued to impress as a program by sending a doubles team to state. Seniors Jae Kim and Ashwin Ugale were topped in the third-place match, 6-0, 6-1, by Waubonsie Valley senior Chris Utterback and freshman Gary Sheng.. They also advance to the state meet Thursday through Saturday, which is hosted by Hersey but played across District 214 at 14 different sites.

The host Panthers swept the sectional, finishing first and second in singles and first and second in doubles.

In singles, Oswego's Francesco Venafro topped teammate Collin McWethy 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the finals. In doubles, the Panthers team of Dan Pitts and Matt Smith beat teammates Joe Lombardi and Sean Wollenberg 6-3, 6-2 for the final.

All six athletes advance to next week's state meet, as does Yorkville's Tom Ratos, who finished fourth in singles.

In the team competition, Oswego distanced itself from second-place Yorkville in the seven-team event, 28-10. Oswego East was sixth with four points.

Geneva finished fifth with 11 points, but did not qualify anyone for state. St. Charles North was first with 22 points. Boys Tennis Sectionals