Red Raiders rally, win sectional tennis crown

HUNTLEY —Huntley’s boys tennis team secured a first for program history as it as it returned home with winning the IHSA Class 2A Sectional Tennis tournament championship at Machesney Park Harlem May 20.

Huntley needed comeback efforts for championships by freshman Will Geske at No. 1 singles and the No.1 doubles team of Ben Hein and Jon Stec to edged Hampshire, 16-13, for the title. The IHSA State Tennis championships are May 25-27 at Palatine and other surrounding schools.

“This was the first sectional title for the boys team,” Red Raiders coach Barry Wells said. “We had placed second before but never had a championship. We were in the championship matches for singles and doubles against Rockford Auburn. If they won both matches, they would have won the sectional and we would have placed third. In both matches we lost the first set and had to come from behind to win in three sets. Hein and Stec finished first and Geske won about three minutes after. It was a great feeling to win both championship matches and get the team title also. It is a lot of pressure and we were going against very good players so I’m extremely proud of them to have the mental toughness to come from behind.”

Freshman Geske prevailed as the  No. 1 singles champ as he outlasted Sharan Kamaraj of Rockford Auburn. After a 3-6 loss in the first set, Geske recovered to win 6-4, 6-3. Geske swept his foes in the earlier rounds as he did not lose a game.

“Geske had a rough start to his match and went down 0-3 in the first set,” Wells said. “He blew through his first three matches at sectional without dropping a game, but the final was more evenly matched. He was hitting winners, but with the wind and a little bit of nerves, he was hitting more errors than winners and got in a hole quickly. He settled down and played well but it was too late in the first set. Near the end of the second set his opponent started struggling physically with some muscle soreness and Geske was able to take advantage. Geske did not play his best tennis but he was still able to get his first ticket to the state tournament.”

The first doubles team of Ben Hein and Jonathon Stec, beat Auburn’s duo in three-set contests over Austin Altangorel and Armaan Farokhi, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

“After watching Auburn’s semifinal match we thought we had a good strategy in place and were going to win comfortably,” Wells said. “Auburn significantly upped their game and played very well against us. We didn’t play poorly in the first set, they just played better. The second set we were down early again and we came up with some big shots to get a break back and then get on top. We had to to play some of our best tennis of the season in the third set to get the victory. It was a great match.”

Hein and Stec described their comeback win in the championship after a practice prior to the state meet.

“I think we upped our game in every aspect,” Hein said. “Our focus was to put more balls in play.”

“It (trailing) was starting to stick in my head and I became frustrated,” Stec said. “I kept my composure.”

Hein said they went over what was working well and what was not during changes.

With the comeback complete, the duo can look forward to state.

“It’s exciting to get to play at state,” Stec said.

“I hope to have a fun experience like last year,” Hein said.