Joliet’s Tom Carney, JCA rule boys tennis sectional

JOLIET – Joliet West junior Tom Carney’s grandmother, Patricia Carney, passed away May 6.

En route to winning the singles championships at Saturday’s Joliet Township Boys Tennis Sectional at the West courts, he felt his grandma was watching – and hopefully smiling.

“I wanted to make her happy,” Carney said. “I loved her so much. It was a crazy, unbelievable day. It feels amazing.”

Carney, the No. 3 seed, beat No. 1 Nick Urban of Lemont, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, in the semifinals and won the final nine games to beat No. 2 Jack Geissler of Joliet Catholic, 6-4, 6-0, in the final. Carney and Geissler had split two previous meetings this season.

“Jack [Geissler] is a great player and Urban is, too,” Carney said. “Any of the three of us could have finished in any order. This just happened to be my day.”

Grandma’s doing? Maybe so. A Carney has won the sectional singles title five straight years. Tom also won as a freshman in 2012, while older brother Jack prevailed in 2010, 2011 and 2013.

“What a performance by Tom,” Joliet Township coach Kit Gillman said. “He did it himself. He had a hard road, beating the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. I’m so fortunate to have a great player like him.”

Urban finished third in the loaded singles bracket with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Romeoville Miguel Rayos del Sol, who dropped a 6-4, 1-6, 6-0 decision to Geissler in their semifinal. All of the top four, plus the top four finishers in doubles, advance to state next weekend at Arlington Heights and other nearby suburbs.

Carney and Urban are juniors, and Geissler and Rayos del Sol, the first Romeoville state qualifier in George Joyce’s 12 years as head coach, are sophomores.

With more talent on the way, the singles bracket in future years should be loaded as well.

While the strength in singles was the talk of the sectional, Joliet Catholic won the team title thanks in no small part to having the second- and fourth-place doubles teams.

The Hilltoppers hoisted the sectional plaque with 22 points to 20 for Lemont. Lockport and Joliet tied for third with 18.

Then came Coal City and Providence with 8, Romeoville 6, Lincoln-Way West 2 and Bolingbrook 0. The title is the fourth for JCA, the first since 2005.

“Our goal was to win the sectional, and five is the most kids we’ve ever had as state qualifiers,” JCA coach Scott Allgood said. “This day was all about team for us. We have a special group of kids and great leadership all the way around.

“Our kids made it their goal early on to win sectional and get to state. This is a special thing to see.””

Lockport’s top-seeded doubles team of juniors Mike Hasler and Pat Piwoni, who did not lose a set in the tournament, beat JCA’s Dominic Bertino-Nate Naal, 6-3, 6-3, for the title. Naal is headed to state for a fourth consecutive year, matching the accomplishment of his older brother, A.J.

“We got a high percentage of first serves in. We limited double-faults,” Hasler said of the title-match victory. Hasler also qualified for state last year when he played with 2013 graduate Lucas Randall.

“I felt a little pressure at the beginning of the year since [Hasler] qualified last year,” Piwoni said. “But once we started, the pressure was off and we started believing we could do this.”

Lemont’s tandem of Nathan Burner and Joe Ziebell, who ousted No. 3 seed Robbie Watson and Connor Wheeler of Providence in the quarterfinals to qualify for state, finished third with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win over JCA’s fourth-seeded Ryan Hippman and Dyllan Mattea.