Griffith finishes fourth in sectional singles

Junior Hub to represent RTHS in state tennis meet this coming weekend

Russell Hodges
Posted 5/21/17

Noah Griffith wasn’t very happy with how he performed during the second half of the IHSA Class 1A Sectional this past weekend, but the Rochelle junior extended his tennis season one more week, as he was one of four players to grab a spot in the IHSA State

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Griffith finishes fourth in sectional singles

Junior Hub to represent RTHS in state tennis meet this coming weekend

Posted

ROCKFORD — Noah Griffith wasn’t very happy with how he performed during the second half of the IHSA Class 1A Sectional this past weekend, but the Rochelle junior extended his tennis season one more week, as he was one of four players to grab a spot in the IHSA State Meet at Hersey High School this coming weekend.

Griffith won both of his sectional singles matches this past Friday, defeating Belvidere North’s Sammy Gonzalez and Freeport’s Aaron Krogull to clinch his spot in the state meet. The Hub standout returned on Saturday and played a tough three-set match against Rockford Boylan’s Adam Pycior in the sectional semifinals, with Griffith taking the first set but dropping the next two to fall by a score of 7-5, 6-7, 1-6.

“I tried to play aggressive and keep that style of play throughout the first set,” Griffith said. “In the second set I ended up playing a little tentative, causing my shots to go out or in the net. Overall, I beat myself and it wasn’t the outcome I was looking for but I had to move on.”

Pycior advanced to the sectional finals, where Belvidere North’s Anderson Park took him down 6-1, 6-1 to claim the singles title and relegate Pycior to second. Griffith battled Keith Country Day’s Brandon Bodak, who defeated Rochelle’s Kevin Zheng earlier in the sectional, for third place, with Griffith taking the first set once again but falling by a final score of 6-2, 4-6, 2-6.

“Once I started getting games back I felt confident,” Griffith said. “In the second set I did the same thing as the first match, and I had a lot of unforced errors… I was disappointed and frustrated that I lost, but I need to have a short memory and focus for Thursday.”

Rochelle finished sixth out of eight schools as a team, scoring four total points. Griffith said he’ll need to continue attacking his opponents and keep his head in the game if he hopes to make a deep run in the state tournament.

“I need to stay aggressive and be tough mentally in order to keep pushing,” he said. “I need to limit my errors and play hard and just have fun.”