By Bobby Narang –
Despite rough weather conditions, the Hinsdale Central High School boys tennis team added another storybook finish to win a State championship Saturday.
The Red Devils, led by singles championship from Danny Schmelka and doubles championship from Joe Daw and Noah Hernandez, tallied 45 points to win the Class 2A State championship, which was the program’s 22nd overall State championship.
Daw, a senior, became the second member of his family to win State tennis championship.
At West Aurora, his father, Joe Daw, won a doubles State championship in 1977-1978 and a second-place medal in the 1976-1977 season.
Saturday, Daw and Hernandez defeated Naperville Central’s Blake Roegner and Daanyal Saeed, 6-1, 6-2, to end a dominating six-match State streak.
Schmelka endured three tough matches to win the singles championship by defeating Hersey’s Max Sheldon, 6-3, 7-5, in the final. Hinsdale Central’s Mujtaba Ali-Khan and Rayan Nehme took third place in doubles.
“I’m just really happy, ever since my freshman year, I’ve been dreaming of winning a doubles State title,” Daw said. “It’s kind of surreal because my dad won a doubles state title. It’s kind of crazy having that with them. Now we’re all matched up (with titles).”
Daw, a Tulane University recruit, and Hernandez won all six State matches in two sets, with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Edwardsville in the quarterfinals their only true test. Daw and Hernandez lost only one match all season, to a veteran team from Missouri.
“We just played really solid, never really missed our shots and were pretty on the ball with everything,” Daw said. “We just played our game and did well. Noah was great all year. He came into the season with perfect game for playing doubles. He had amazing hands and super great volleys. All we really had to do was some minor things with strategy.”
Hinsdale Central took first place with 45 points, New Trier was second with 34, and Naperville Central fifth with 18 points.
In Class 1A, Wheaton Academy was third place and University High Normal won the State championship. Glenbard South and Montini tied for seventh place.
Lyons sophomore Dominick Cuchran, who took second in 2A singles last season, defeated Highland Park’s Jeremy Learner 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the third-place match.
“Third was a great performance by Dominick,” Lyons coach Bill Wham said. “Dominick has the objective of trying to win State as a junior and senior. He has all the tools to do it…His serves are better and he plays really well on the forehand side.”
“We’re a pretty young team and we had a strong season. As a team, we should be in pretty good shape next year. But of all years I’ve (been coaching), this is one of the most enjoyable and really balanced teams.”