The first time this year that the Glenbrook South doubles team of Sebastien DesRoberts and Rohan Gupta beat the top duo from Glenbrook North, they posted a 7-5, 6-0 victory.
Glenbrook North freshman Ben Riad and sophomore Ethan Park played much better in the rematch at Saturday’s Class AA Buffalo Grove Sectional, but DesRoberts and Gupta hung on for a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win to become sectional champions.
They’ll compete in the AA state tournament, which runs Thursday through Saturday, and is hosted by Hersey.
“Those guys played really well and gave us a great fight,” said Gupta, a junior. “Sebby and I didn’t have our best match but we adapted to how we were playing and pulled it through.
“We didn’t go into the second set with the mindset that we had to keep working hard. But we eventually picked it up and came through. They picked up their game, so we had to pick up our game.”
Glenbrook South also won the team sectional title, edging Glenbrook North 33-29. Titans senior Bryce McClanahan was the sectional singles champion, sophomore Michael Bukhalo placed third, and the doubles team of junior Jacob Adas and sophomore Jack Upperman placed fourth.
It was the first time since 2009 that the Titans advanced two singles players and two doubles teams to state.
“We’ve been in some tough sectionals with Deerfield, Highland Park and Glenbrook North, but we played well Saturday,” Glenbrook South coach Larry Faulkner said.
McClanahan won 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 over Hersey’s Aidan Burke to reach the semifinals before Glenbrook North’s Nick Marino and teammate Michael Wu injury defaulted in the semifinals and finals, respectively, to make McClanahan a sectional champ.
Bukhalo placed third when Marino defaulted in the third-place match.
“The main thing is that we got in the position to be a threat and when things fell our way, we were there,” Faulkner said.
Gupta and DesRoberts, a senior, have only lost two matches all season and earned the No. 2 seed for the state tournament.
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“They’ve faced very difficult competition all year,” Faulkner said. “They have a lot of talent, but they also compete very hard.”
Both DesRoberts and Gupta have been on varsity since they were freshmen. They advanced downstate together last year but lost to Edwardsville’s Zach Trimpe and Alex Gray in the fourth round and did not medal.
“(Trimpe and Gray) finished fourth in state last year and they’re the undisputed number one seed this year,” Gupta said. “They’re the team everyone wants to beat, and Sebby and I definitely want revenge on them.
“This feels awesome, especially having all four teams qualify this year. It’s a huge accomplishment and we’ve been working hard towards that all year.”
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press