Uni High tops Urbana 8-1 in chilly crosstown tennis match

Robert Gao celebrates his doubles match win over Urbana — University High's Robert Gao celebrates after grueling doubles victory against Urbana's Karl Bonita and Santi Lleras. Narrowing taking the first set, and dropping the second, Gao and partner Kyle Fan won the tiebreak, 10-7. See more match photos below.

URBANA - Despite less-than-favorable weather conditions—a steady breeze and temperatures in the mid-40s—at Atkins Tennis Center, the Uni High boys tennis team swept all six singles matches Tuesday in a home contest against crosstown rival Urbana High School, cruising to an 8-1 victory.

Freshman Jameson LaFave defeated Urbana junior Xander Ashley 7-6 (5), 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Ashley bounced back in doubles, teaming with Sam Sherwood for the Tigers' lone win of the day. The Urbana duo rallied past Josh Persiani and Ian Pan at No. 2 doubles, winning 2-6, 6-1, 10-7.

Sam Sherwood playing tennis for the Urbana Tigers

Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks

Urbana's Sam Sherwood lines up backhand shot during his double match with partner Xander Ashley at No. 2 doubles.

At No. 1 doubles, Urbana’s Santi Lleras and Karl Bonita dropped the first set 7-6 (5) but made dozens of sharp plays and dominated serve-plus-one points to take the second set 6-2. However, Uni High’s Robert Gao and Kyle Fan showed resilience in the third-set tiebreak, capturing the final three points after a 7-7 deadlock to close out the match.

Urbana returns to action Wednesday for a nonconference match against St. Thomas More at Atkins. The Illineks will travel to Bloomington on Saturday before hosting St. Teresa at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Match Results

Singles:
No. 1 - Jameson LaFave, Uni def. Xander Ashley, Urbana 7-6 (5), 6-2
No. 2 - Swapnil Kumar, Uni def. Karl Bonita, Urbana 6-1 , 6-3
No. 3 - Robert Gao, Uni def. Santi Lleras, Urbana 6-2 , 6-2
No. 4 - Kyle Fan, Uni def. Samuel Sherwood, Urbana 6-2 , 6-2
No. 5 - Josh Persiani, Uni def. Theodore Nevins, Urbana 6-3 , 6-4
No. 6 - Ian Pan, Uni def. Gus Rund, Urbana 6-2 , 1-6 , 10-5

Doubles:
No. 1 - Robert Gao - Kyle Fan, Uni def. Santi Lleras, Urbana - Karl Bonita, Urbana 6-3 , 2-6 , 10-7
No. 2 - Xander Ashley - Samuel Sherwood, Urbana def. Josh Persiani - Ian Pan, Uni 2-6 , 6-1 , 10-7
No. 3 - Collins Rosch - Tristen Ting, Uni def. Theodore Nevins - Gus Rund, Urbana 7-6 (5), 6-2

Photo Gallery

Santi Lleras stretches out to return a shot out wide

Urbana dominates Normal West for conference tennis win

Urbana's Karl Bonito hits a volley back over the net in their home match against Uni-High last month. Teamed up with Santi Lleras in the #2 doubles slot, the pair defeated Tyler Cunningham and Dane Schlipmann in their road conference match at Noral West, 8-4. The Tigers' varsity tennis team brought home the W after dominating the Ironmen, 6-3.

Sentinel/Clark Brooks

NORMAL - There is no better feeling than walking away with a pair of wins after a varsity tennis match. You can bet Urbana's Ian Peters and Xander Ashley were happy campers after helping UHS pick up a 6-3 team win over host Normal West on Tuesday.

After dropping a first close set 7-5 at #1 singles for Urbana, Ashley rallied back to win the second set 6-2 to force a tiebreaker. Having West's Rolen Schlipmann's number, and the momentum still in his favor, he took the third set 10-5.

Later, paired up with doubles partner Luke Pankau at #3 doubles, the duo rolled past Ironmen Nolan Lampert and Andrew Cunningham for breadstick, 8-1.

Like Ashley, Peters also dropped his first set during his singles match against Normal West's Tyler Cunningham. The senior recovered from the lopsided 6-1 loss to take the second set 6-3. Still in command in the 10-point tiebreak, he took the match with an impressive 10-3 win.

With teammate Joe Solava as his doubs partner, the two ground out a hard-fought victory over Ironmen duo Rolen Schlipmann and Evan Pattelli, Normal West at #1 doubles, 8-6.

Also picking up wins for the Tigers were Dominic Urban at #6 singles and # doubles pair Santi Lleras and Karl Bonita.

BOX SCORE ~

Singles:
No. 1 - Xander Ashley, Urbana def. Rolen Schlipmann, Normal West, 5-7 , 6-2 , 10-5
No. 2 - Evan Pattelli, Normal West def. Joe Solava, Urbana, 2-6 , 6-4 , 10-2
No. 3 - Ian Peters, Urbana def. Tyler Cunningham, Normal West, 1-6 , 6-3 , 10-3
No. 4 - Dane Schlipmann, Normal West def. Santi Lleras, Urbana, 6-3 , 3-6 , 10-4
No. 5 - Nolan Lampert, Normal West def. Karl Bonita, Urbana, 6-3 , 7-5
No. 6 - Dominic Urban, Urbana def. Michael Zaleski, Normal West, 6-2 , 6-7 (5), 10-8

Doubles:
No. 1 - Joe Solava - Ian Peters, Urbana def. Rolen Schlipmann - Evan Pattelli, Normal West, 8-6
No. 2 - Santi Lleras - Karl Bonita, Urbana def. Tyler Cunningham - Dane Schlipmann, Normal West, 8-4
No. 3 - Xander Ashley - Luke Pankau, Urbana def. Nolan Lampert - Andrew Cunningham, Normal West, 8-1

FINAL: Urbana 6 - Normal West 3

Urbana Tennis Royale, Tigers lose season opener to the Illineks

URBANA - Aryan Sachdev is off to a great start on the hardcourt this spring. The Urbana University senior picked up his fifth win of the season after defeating Urbana's Xander Ashley 6-1, 6-1, on the #1 singles court on Wednesday. In fact, the Illineks took all six singles matches to prevail 8-1 over the Tigers.

It wasn't all bad for Ashley, who later partnered with teammate Luke Pankau to win their match at #3 singles.

Meanwhile, on doubles court #2, Urbana's Santi Lleras and Karl Bonita pushed their match against Uni's Robert Gao and Ian Pan to a third-set tiebreak. Dropping the first set 7-5, Gao/Pan rallied back strong to take the second 6-1. Unable to match the firepower from the University High opponents, Lleras/Bonita gave a valiant effort as the sun dipped below the horizon, losing 10-4 under the lights.

Uni plays their next home match April 11 against Paris at Atkins Tennis Center starting at 4:30 p.m. The Tigers host Matton tomorrow at Blair Park at 2 p.m.

Photo Gallery

BOX SCORE ~

Singles:
No. 1 - Aryan Sachdev, U-High def. Xander Ashley, Urbana, 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 - Mason Miao, U-High def. Joe Solava, Urbana, 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 - Taehan Lee, U-High def. Ian Peters, Urbana, 6-0, 7-5
No. 4 - Swapnil Kumar, U-High def. Samuel Sherwood, Urbana, 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 - Kyle Fan, U-High def. Jack Perry, Urbana, 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 - Shreyas Singh, U-High def. Santi Lleras, Urbana, 6-3, 5-7, 10-2

Doubles:
No. 1 - Taehan Lee/Swapnil Kumar, U-High def. Joe Solava/Ian Peters, Urbana, 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 - Robert Gao/Ian Pan, U-High def. Santi Lleras/Karl Bonita, Urbana, 5-7, 6-1, 10-4
No. 3 - Xander Ashley/Luke Pankau, Urbana def. David Risinger/Collins Rosch, U-High, 7-5, 6-1

FINAL: University High 8 - Urbana 1

Tigers blanked in home match against Morton

Photo:PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

Tigers' Ian Peters hits a serve while playing doubles with Luke Pankau during their team's home match against Normal West last Wednesday. Peters and Pankau were edged out of a win last week to West's Brian Bach and Alex Lamboley at #2 doubles after forcing a third-set tiebreak, 1-6, 7-5, 10-12.

URBANA - Despite windy tennis conditions, Ian Peters fell in singles and doubles action at Blair Park during Urbana High School's home meet against Morton.

Playing in the #6 singles spot, Peters gave his all in his first set against Potters' Asa Olden. After narrowly losing the first set 7-6, he could only muster just two wins on his way to dropping the second set 6-2. Once again teamed-up with Luke Pankau, the duo suffered a double-bagel at #2 doubles at the hands of Morton's Carter Kendall and Joe Campbell.

After picking up conference wins over both Normal West and Centennial 6-3 last week, the Tigers' tennis team lost the non-conference match to Morton, 9-0.

Box Score

Urbana - 0, Morton - 9

Singles:

No. 1 - Carter Kendall, Morton def. Parker McClain, Urbana (H.S.), 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 - Aiden Belsly, Morton def. Elijah Walker, Urbana (H.S.), 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 - Joe Campbell, Morton def. Joe Solava, Urbana (H.S.), 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 - Blake hoemaker, Morton def. Xander Ashley, Urbana (H.S.), 6-0, 6-1
No. 5 - Seth Klopfenstein, Morton def. Jack Perry, Urbana (H.S.), 6-2, 6-3
No. 6 - Asa Olden, Morton def. Ian Peters, Urbana (H.S.), 7-6, 6-2

Doubles:

No. 1 - Aiden Belsly, Morton - Blake shoemaker, Morton def. Parker McClain, Urbana (H.S.) - Elijah Walker, Urbana (H.S.), 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 - Carter Kendall, Morton - Joe Campbell, Morton def. Luke Pankau, Urbana (H.S.) - Ian Peters, Urbana (H.S.), 6-0, 6-0
No. 3 - Seth Klopfenstein, Morton - Asa olden, Morton def. Xander Ashley, Urbana (H.S.) - Joe Solava, Urbana (H.S.), 6-7, 6-3, 11-9