THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008
Moss Wins Title But Team Falls Just Short
Maine West grad Eric Moss took the regional championship at #2 singles for Oakon College's tennis team last weekend, but the Raiders fell just short of qualifying for nationals, placing fourth overall.
Oakton needed to place in the top three to advance to nationals but finished fourth with 9 points. Morraine Valley won with 18 points, Elgin had 16 and Illinois Valley took the final spot with 14 points.
The highlight of the weekend was Moss, who was third seeded in the division and had gone 0-4 against the top two seeds during the regular season. But wins over McHenry (6-4,6-4), second seeded Elgin (6-2, 3-6, 11-9) and first seeded Morraine Valley (6-3, 6-2) gave Moss the championship.
Coach Neal Sipkovsky said the signature match of Moss's performance was the second round victory over Elgin. There, Moss was down to match point as his Elgin opponent led in a super tiebreaker. Moss came up with a service winner and followed with the next two points to capture the clutch win.
"Needless to say, quite an accomplishment of skill and determination to succeed," Sipkovsky said.
Third singles player Jamie Kriticos finished in second place for the Raiders while Robert Wojeciechowski and Danny Becker were semi-finalists in singles and Wojeciechowski/Moss and Kriticos/Becker were semi-finalist pairs in doubles action.
The Raiders had gone 3-1 in their final four matches heading into the regional. And although the season is now over, Sipkovsky said it included many positives and the team should be solid once again next year.
"With Robert Wojeciechowski, Eric Moss, and perhaps Jamie Kriticos, our top three performers, expected to return in 2009, in conjunction with the addition of some highly skilled recruits, next season promises to be something special at Oakton," Sipkovsky said.