Will County high school sports roundup for Thursday, May 26

The Lincoln-Way West doubles team of Jacob Sternin and Milan Miskovic were the lone area qualifiers to advance out of the first round of the IHSA Class 2A Boys Tennis State Tournament during Thursday’s opening round.

Sternin and Miskovic moved to the second round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Oswego’s Benjamin Kuehner and Avery Kincaid. They will try to continue to advance in the draw Friday morning.

Local Class 2A singles players Will Pangallo and John Kenny of Lincoln-Way East and Lincoln-Way Central’s Collin Bush each lost preliminary-round matches and will drop into the consolation draw, as will doubles players Tanner Leonard and Ryan Dell of Lincoln-Way East, Tommy Belka and Dom Evans of Lincoln-Way Central and Jack Forenza and Manuel Tsoukatos of Lincoln-Way East.

The area’s lone entrant in the Class 1A draw, Lemont’s doubles team of Safin Sariya and Nathan Svoboda, also dropped into the consolation bracket with an opening-round loss.

BASEBALL

Providence 8, T.F. South 3: At the Class 4A Providence Regional in New Lenox, Gavin Gomez went 3 for 4 and homered to lead the Celtics to a victory in their regional semifinal.

Gomez drove in three runs and scored twice. Jackson Smith went 1 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Enzo Infelise, Pierre Danet and Alberto Moreno each had an RBI. Alex Alberico struck out six through five innings.

The Celtics will play Lincoln-Way East for the regional title at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Plainfield North 6, Naperville North 1: At the Class 4A Yorkville Regional, Brandon Bak struck out 10 through 6 1/3 innings allowed two hits in a regional semifinal win.

Ryan Nelson went 1 for 4 with a run scored and two RBIs for the Tigers, who will play the host Foxes for the regional championship at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Coal City 8, Leo 0: At the Class 2A Joliet Catholic Regional, Abram Wills drove in three runs to lead the Coalers to a semifinal victory.

Braden Reilly went 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Carter Garrelts had two hits and drove in a run. Reilly and Garrelts combined to hold Leo to just three hits. Reilly struck out five through three innings, and Garrelts struck out two through four.

The Coalers will face Joliet Catholic at 11 a.m. for the regional crown.

Plainfield South 2, Normal Community 0: At the Class 4A Moline Regional, Brett Snyder pitched a complete game and struck out 10 for the Cougars in a semifinal win.

Matt Kelliher scored both runs for North. Blake Phommachannom drove in one run, and Zander Tubbs went 2 for 3.

The Cougars will play Plainfield Central or East Moline United at 11 a.m. Saturday.

SOFTBALL

Naperville Central 6, Plainfield East 0: At the Class 4A Naperville North Regional, the Bengals’ season ended with a semifinal loss.

BOYS TRACK AND FIELD

IHSA State Meet: At Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Reed-Custer pole vaulter Vander Dransfeldt was the area’s lone athlete to qualify to participate in the final round of the Class 1A state meet after the preliminary round.

Dransfeldt, a senior, cleared 3.9 meters (12 feet, 9 1/2 inches) to best the standard required to advance to Saturday’s finals.

Dwight’s 4x400 relay did not meet the qualifying standard and finished 20th in a time of 3:35.23, while Seneca discus thrower Carter Thomas also missed a finals berth, finishing 29th with a heave of 37.4 meters.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

Lincoln-Way East 2, Bolingbrook 0: At the Bolingbrook Regional, the Griffins (31-6) defeated Bolingbrook, 25-16, 25-16, to capture the regional championship.

Jared Byas led East with 14 kills and six digs. Jon Guch added eight kills and three digs, and Jerry Moylan had 25 assists and four digs.

The Griffins play Sandburg in a Sandburg Sectional semifinal at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Plainfield East 2, Joliet West 0: At the Joliet Catholic Regional, the Bengals took down the Tigers in straight sets, 25-19, 25-20, to win the regional championship.

Plainfield East will play Lockport in an O’Fallon Sectional semifinal that will be played at Joliet West at noon Saturday.