By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Going into the Southern Lakes Conference tournament last week, the Burlington High School boys’ tennis team knew they would need to win the tournament to win the SLC crown.
The Demon boys went into the tournament tied for first with Waterford and Westosha Central, with each team having six dual wins or 12 points. That meant that if Burlington, Waterford or Westosha won the SLC Meet, that team would win the overall crown.
Westosha ended up edging Burlington in the tournament, and thus winning the SLC title. Waterford ended up third.
“We had our chances, but Westosha was too tough in some spots,” head coach Ken Savaglia said.
Overall, Westosha ended up with 26 points in the SLC (combining dual win points and tournament points), with Burlington second with 24.
The two day event began on Thursday with singles action at Wilmot and doubles action at Lake Geneva Badger.
On Thursday, “we did, with one exception, what we should have done to put us in a good position,” Savaglia noted.
After Thursday’s matches, the Demon boys were set to compete in four of seven championship matches, plus a third-place match and a fifth-place match.
Savaglia noted he had to replace a player in No. 3 doubles, so the team went from having a seeded No. 3 doubles pairing with a 6-1 SLC record, to an unseeded pairing playing the No. 2 seeded team.
Playing in the championship matches were Conor Schultz at No. 2 singles, Caleb Hewitt at No. 4 singles, Corey Caldwell and Andrew Schmidt at No. 1 doubles and Alex Oldenburg and Matt Traber at No. 2 doubles.
Hewitt, plus Oldenburg and Traber, ended up winning SLC titles.
Hewitt won the title match 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; while Oldenburg and Traber won in straight sets 6-0, 7-6 (1).
Hewitt ended the SLC season undefeated at 10-0.
Oldenburg and Traber were down 1-5 in the second set before rallying to win it.
“They are 11-0 in our conference play and 14-3 on the season,” Savaglia said. “Very impressed.”
Schultz lost 7-6 (2) 6-4 to Westosha’s Alex Sadlier.
“The toughest match for us,” Savaglia said. “(Schultz) beat him earlier in the year. We were up in the first set 6-5, but could not finish. Just could not get up in the second.”
Caldwell and Schmidt lost 6-3, 6-1 to an Elkhorn pair.
Brenden Novak (No. 3 singles) lost a three-set match to Union Grove’s Kyle Boeck for third place. After winning the opening set 6-2, Novak lost the next two 6-4, 6-1. The match went over three hours before it was finished.
Janesville Craig duals
The Demon boys took on Fort Atkinson and Janesville Craig in two non-conference duals played at Janesville Monday. The boys defeated Craig 4-3, but lost to Fort Atkinson by the same score.
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