Boys tennis: No. 3 doubles win lifts La Salle-Peru over Princeton

Through four matches Tuesday, the La Salle-Peru and Princeton boys tennis teams were tied.

The Tigers swept the singles matches, while the Cavaliers won at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.

So the nonconference match came down to No. 3 doubles.

L-P’s Colin Krug and Michael Peters delivered a 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 victory over Asa Gartin and Josh Orwig to give the Cavaliers a 3-2 victory.

“It came down to a tiebreaker, which is always fun for the fans but a little stressful for the coaches.”

—  Aaron Guenther, L-P coach

“It came down to a tiebreaker, which is always fun for the fans but a little stressful for the coaches,” L-P coach Aaron Guenther said. “I thought everybody executed really well and played up to their potential.”

Guenther said Krug and Peters adjusted their play after dropping the first set.

“They played smart,” Guenther said. “I don’t remember what the numbers are but it’s like 67 percent of points in doubles are won at the net and 20-something percent is just errors. We were really hitting that 20 percent hard in the first set where we were just making silly mistakes trying to win the point from the baseline. When we talked after the set, we said focus on the fundamentals, win the points at the net, keep the points going from the baseline and then you’re going to turn it around, and that’s what they did.”

At No. 1 doubles, Andrew Bollis and Danny Santoy defeated Matt Sims and Ben Anderson 6-4, 6-2.

“We didn’t really play too great, but you really can’t when it’s super windy and at the beginning it was raining. We got the win and that’s all that matters,” Bollis said. “Today was probably the worst wind I’ve ever played in. When that happens, you just have to try to get the ball in and make them make the mistakes.”

Santoy said the Australian formation, which the Cavalier duo implemented last week, helped he and Bollis overcome a deficit.

Guenther said the formation helps take away a cross court return.

“The first set we were down 3-1,” Santoy said. “We got the ball in and used a new strategy, which helped us.”

Bollis and Santoy are 7-10 this season with the regular season winding down. The Cavs have two more duals and the Moline invite before the Interstate 8 Conference Meet on May 13 and the Class 1A Ottawa Sectional on May 19-20.

“We want to try to win those and get as much as experience as we can to get ready to get into postseason play,” Bollis said. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position. We’re looking for a top four seed, specifically one or two. We’ll take whatever we can get.”

Brothers Jon and Michael Milota paired up again and beat Niklas Schneider and Michael Ellis 7-5, 6-3.

Princeton junior Tyson Phillips stayed perfect on the season with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Adam Kasperski at No. 1 singles.

“I’d say I did pretty good,” Phillips said. “My serve was going in pretty nicely today.”

Phillips is looking to finish the regular season strong and compete for a return trip to the state tournament.

“I’d like to improve a little bit more before we get (to the Ottawa Sectional), but I like where I’m at,” Phillips said. “(I’d like to improve) just consistency and I’d like to improve my groundstrokes.

“I’m trying to remain undefeated, do well in the sectional and hopefully make it to state.”

Chase Sims topped Riley O’Brien 6-2, 6-0 to at No. 2 singles to give the Tigers the singles sweep and improve to 8-1.

“I thought we would be comparable, so it’s only fitting for it to come down to a third set tiebreaker,” Princeton coach Connie Lind said. “It would have been nice to win.

“Tyson just keeps rolling along. He’s playing really well. Chase is like a backboard. He gets everything back and runs everything down.”