Several standout performances allow team to improve on regular season
By Mike Ramczyk
Correspondent
With Lake Geneva Badger dominating the Southern Lakes Conference in boys tennis and Waterford and Elkhorn not far behind, the Burlington Demons weren’t necessarily going to shock the world last week and win the whole thing.
The two-day tournament, which had opened play Thursday and championship matches Saturday at Badger, featured stiff competition, but the Demons held their own to pull off some nice finishes.
With 10 team points, Burlington finished fifth at the conference tournament and placed sixth overall in the SLC standings.
Perhaps the most impressive match came in the No. 1 doubles fifth-place match for Burlington’s Leo Puntillo and Nate Bowman.
The experienced duo was crushed, 6-0, in the first set, only to come back with a 6-1 win in the second set.
In the tiebreaker, the Demons fell behind, 9-4, only to pull off a stunning 11-9 victory and secure fifth.
“Match of the day was 1 dubs coming all the way back twice,” said Burlington coach Ken Savaglia. “They got crushed the first set, then came back in second, then went down in the third set tie-breaker 4-9 only to take eight straight points to win, 11-9. Fun to watch and they just kept coming.”
At 3 doubles, Zeke Tiedt and Max Meier, a newly-formed team, placed fifth, Malik Tiedt too fourth at 1 singles and Quinn Adamek nabbed fourth at 2 singles.
“Happy where we finished in the tournament,” Savaglia said. “We beat some people that we lost to before. Max and Zeke had a great win on Saturday. They had to play really aggressive and they did.”
Zeke Tiedt and Meier won, 6-4, 7-5, before facing Westosha Central’s Mason Yee and Evan Beth in the fifth-place match.
The young tandem had no problems, breezing through the Falcons, 7-5, 6-2.
Puntillo and Bowman dominated Wilmot, 6-2, 6-1, before their epic battle with Westosha’s Garrett Reynolds and Colton Soto in the fifth-place match.
Malik Tiedt lost, 6-3, 6-2, in the third-place match at 1 singles.
In the third-place match at 2 singles, Adamek put on a strong showing against Westosha’s Levi Hardesty, but fell in a three-set thriller, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
“Quinn also played a great match, battling all match, but just got nipped in the third,” Savaglia said.
Quentin Holle competed at No. 3 singles for the Demons, and Jack Friend played at 4 singles.
Burlington competed at Janesville Parker Tuesday night.
East Troy 6, Burlington 1
In nonconference action Monday night, the Demons couldn’t hang with the visiting Trojans.
Friend got the team’s lone win at No. 4 singles, a 6-1, 5-7, 11-9 victory.
“Struggled tonight against a scrappy East Troy team,” Savaglia said. “East Troy just kept getting the ball back and we did not respond. We played some tight matches, but came out only with one.”
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