Today the boys varsity tennis team faced off against Crystal Lake South, a team that in the past has always been a tough match up. The Huntley boys lost 3-4, but that is better than they have ever done against the Gators.

All three singles players fell short and lost their matches today. Junior Connor Smith lost his match 6-1, 6-1. Freshman Jake Grabner lost his second singles match at 6-1, 6-2, and senior Akshay Patel lost a tough one in a three set match of 2-6, 6-1, and 6-1.

Fortunately, the three wins were brought on by the first, second, and third doubles teams. First doubles, led by seniors Garrick McDaniel and Max Pilkerton won their match in an easy 6-2, 6-2 win.

Despite their win, they were “a little shaky” according to McDaniel. The duo also noted that their chemistry is “off the charts” and they have started out their season undefeated at 2-0.

“We rocked them!” said Pilkerton.

The second doubles team, junior Matt Frederick and senior Vince Kambitsis, won as well. However their first set was a close one, they won it 7-6 with a tiebreaker of 7-1, and won the second set with a bit more ease of 6-2.

Finally, the third singles team of seniors Marek Makowski and Aakash Maniar won 6-3, 6-4. The fourth doubles team of sophomores Brendan Hagan and Josh Simons lost their match, though started out their season with a win against Johnsburg on the second of April.

From coach Barry Wells’s perspective, this loss is a huge improvement from years past against a team so difficult to overcome in the past.

“It went how I expected it to go, I figured it would be a close match, and we just came up a little bit short of just one point,” said Wells. “It was a good match, so this is definitely good improvement.”

Being early in the season, this loss is not a huge disappointment because it gives the boys more time to improve and hopefully beat out teams that in the past have been a challenge.

The following matches the boys have are at Jefferson Quad on Saturday and Grant at home on Monday.