New Trier’s Stineman takes singles crown

Updated: April 30, 2011 6:32PM

The beauty of tennis comes out of the structure. Everybody has a chance, theoretically, due to the alternating serve format.

Except Robert Stineman consistently obliterates that rule. The only form that ever holds is that you are almost certain to lose.

“When you play against Robert, the start of the point is never neutral,” Deerfield’s Jason Brown said. “He’s so aggressive and so good at serve and volley that you are always playing catch up against him.”

Stineman, the Stanford-bound New Trier senior, showcased his full repertoire by handling Brown 6-2, 6-2 in the championship of the No. 1 singles of the Pitchford Invitational at Hersey Saturday.

It marked the second consecutive week Stineman has beaten Brown in the finals of a major invitational. Last week Stineman defeated Brown in the championship at Hinsdale Central. Stineman defeated Stagg’s Tim Kopinski, a rematch of last year’s state championship, in the semifinals. Brown avenged an earlier loss to Hinsdale Central’s Sam Bloom in the other semifinal.

The preternaturally smooth and elegant Stineman dominated the field, going 5-0 in the two-day event in pushing his record to 23-0 on the season. The Pitchford has historically function as a prelude to the state championship.

“I’m very pleased with how I played this tournament, especially considering the conditions,” Stineman said. “The wind was pretty brutal out there the last two days, and I thought I handled that pretty well.

There were a lot of good players here.”

Stineman ran his mark to 14-0 against Illinois players this year. He is attempting to become the first singles player to defend his singles title since Deerfield’s Mike Morrison captured the last of his four titles in 1986. Stineman defeated Brown for the third time.

“Jason’s a very talented and smooth player who doesn’t make mistakes out there,” Stineman said. “He’s a friend of mine, and we’ve played against each other a lot. Mostly, I knew I had to serve and return [his] serve today to be successful, and I did that.”

Stineman also propelled the defending state champion Trevians to the team title with 66 points. Stevenson and Hinsdale Central finished in tie for second with 54 points each.

The Patriots’ team of seniors of Robert Putterman and David Packowitz defeated Lyons’ Jake Elliott and Danny Schuster 6-4, 6-3 to capture the No. 1 doubles. The two finished runner-up in consecutive years as freshman and sophomores before playing the club circuit last year.

They took control of the championship by winning four straight games in the first set. Putterman used his huge serve to record three aces to recover from a 15-40 deficit in the first set. “We didn’t play our best tennis, but we did what we had to do,” Putterman said. “Fortunately our service game helped us when we needed a big shot.”

Hinsdale Central’s Rafe Mosetick ousted Deerfield’s Toby Ma 6-3, 6-2 to capture the No. 2 singles crown. The Trevians’ Thomas Fawcett and David Myers defeated Highland Park’s defending state second place finishers David Zak and Zach Brint 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 2 doubles finals.

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