Deerfield duo roll at Highland Park

Updated: May 21, 2011 5:11PM

Tiebreakers are not a source of angst for Ben Shklyar.

The Deerfield doubles player finished off a championship run at the IHSA Highland Park Sectional by teaming up with Alec Siegel to beat Highland Park’s Tyler Manci and Zach Brint 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) on Saturday.

The Warriors dominated the tiebreaker action from the start.

“I personally love playing tiebreakers,” Shklyar said. “My best performances come in the tiebreakers.”

Siegel saved his best for last, ending the match with a wicked cross court return.

A key moment in the match occurred in the first set. After racing out to a 4-0 lead, the Deerfield team was reeling after Manci and Brint collected two straight breaks.

“We’ve been starting our matches great,” Shklyar said. “We let our guard down a little bit (up 4-0).”

Highland Park had visions of drawing even at 4-4, but the Warriors answered by breaking serve en route to a 6-3 first-set triumph.

Giants coach Steve Rudman believes his team is capable of big things.

“In my mind, there is one great team and eight to 10 good teams,” said Rudman, aware the doubles favorite at state will be Stevenson’s Ross Putterman and David Packowitz. “If we can get hot at the right time, we’re right there.”

This title was only part of Deerfield’s breakthrough weekend. While putting up 34 points to win the sectional, the Warriors qualified all four entries to the state tournament.

Deerfield dominated the singles bracket. In an all-Warrior final, Jason Brown knocked off Toby Ma 6-2, 6-3.

“We both wanted to win this one (the final) to build some momentum for state,” Brown said. “We both tried to be aggressive. Today, I executed a little better than he did.”

The other Warrior qualifier was the doubles team of Jack Kasbeer and Jeremy Jacobson (fourth place).

“To get our second doubles team in was huge,” Brown said. “You have to get a lot of points at state (from many spots). It was a really successful weekend for everyone.”

Highland Park, which tied for second with 19 points, will send two doubles teams to state. The pairing of Jordan Hainsfurther and David Zak took third, beating Kasbeer and Jacobson 6-1, 6-2 in the third-place match.

Lake Forest (19 points) will also send two players to state. In the battle for third place in singles, Peter Tarwid beat Camron Bagheri. Tarwid led 6-2, 1-0 when Bagheri was forced to retire due to injury.

© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.