Hinsdale Central seeks momentum

Updated: May 24, 2011 7:21PM

Rafe Mosetick and Sam Bloom have each played tennis since they were in the fourth grade, which made Saturday’s match against each other worth more than a sectional title.

The good friends competed against each other for the first time in a high school meet. They play against each other all the time in practice and even in offseason tournaments, but the York Sectional singles final was special.

Bloom has played at No. 1 singles for most of the season for the Devils, but Mosetick was the winner Saturday with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Bloom.

“We’re both competitive. It was hard for each other,” Mosetick said.

Mosetick raised his record to 30-3 on the season, but Bloom has several losses to better competition. Both Hinsdale Central juniors received top eight seeds in the state meet, which begins Thursday at Northwest suburban schools.

Mosetick opens the tournament at Hersey against O’Fallon’s Nic Lancaster. Bloom’s opener takes place at Hoffman Estates against Ottawa’s Jackson Evensen.

With only one senior, doubles player Brian Johnson, Hinsdale Central’s doesn’t expect to repeat last year’s runner-up title, the school’s 16th.

Hinsdale Central’s top doubles team of Peter Heneghan and Alex Hagermoser, both sophomores, received 9-16 seeds while junior Griffin Johns and Johnson were seeded 17-32.

The Devils won their 27th sectional title at York Saturday, beating Timothy Christian 36-19.

Heneghan and Hagermoser open the state tournament against Charleston’s Alex Shick and Sean Hussey at Palatine. Johns and Johnson will compete against Belleville East’s Christian Hamilton and Zach Fields at Fremd.

Mosetick is hoping for a long run through this year’s tournament.

“My season this year has been a lot better. I’ve beat the tournament runner-up [Deerfield’s Jason Brown] from last year,” Mosetick said. “My confidence is better. I’ve beat a lot of guys who were top seeds last year.”

Two of Mosetick’s losses came against New Trier junior Jared Hiltzik, who received the No. 2 seed for state. The expected top seed was defending state champion Robert Stineman of New Trier. Brown was named a No. 3-4 seed.

“After the state meet, me and Same will both try to qualify for a big Midwest tournament. We will try to qualify for the Chicago District qualifiers,” Mosetick said.

Hinsdale South

Hinsdale South junior George Alex finished fourth in the Downers South Sectional to advance to his second consecutive state tournament. Alex opens the tournament Thursday against Niles North’s Dave Bacalla at Conant.

© 2012 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.