Springfield High sent a doubles team and Chatham Glenwood advanced three players to the Class 2A Illinois High School Association boys state tennis finals.

The top four placers in both singles and doubles of each sectional advanced to the state finals, which will be held at Palatine High School and numerous sights in the Chicago suburbs from May 29-31.

Central State Eight Conference doubles champs Krish Khurana and Jai Khurana of Springfield won two matches on Friday in straight sets to qualify for state at the Springfield High Sectional.

The Khuranas then defeated Chatham Glenwood’s Will Ehrlich and Talha Arshad 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals on Saturday. The Khurana brothers took second place when Champaign Central’s Daniel Canivez and Sohum Gurrapu rallied from a set down to record a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory in the title match at the Velasco Tennis Center in Washington Park.

Ehrlich and Arshad also qualified for state on Friday and got to Saturday’s semifinals by beating Landon Patrick and Aitor Togay of Normal Community 7-6 (2), 6-4. The Titans tandem finished third with a win by default over Normal Community’s Will Rinkenberger and Akshaj Patel.

Glenwood’s singles surprise

Glenwood junior Connor Pollitt stepped into the mainstream spotlight after junior teammate Ben Loeffler had to drop out of the singles draw with inflammation in his right shoulder.

Pollitt, seeded fifth, finished fourth in singles to advance to his first state tournament. Pollitt defeated Bloomington’s Wes Kalmes-Finch 6-1, 6-0 and won his quarterfinal match in three sets, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 over fourth seed Evan Pattelli of Normal Community West.

Pollitt lost his semifinal match to No. 1 seed Abel Vines of Champaign Central 6-0, 6-0 before placing fourth in a 6-0, 6-2 loss to third seed Evan Henneberg of Normal Community.

Pollitt finished fifth in the singles draw at the CS8 meet that Glenwood won on May 17. Loeffler won the CS8 singles title, serving underhand because of his shoulder pain. He ultimately could not give it a go at the sectional.

Champaign Central claimed the sectional championship with 18 points. Normal Community was second with 13 and Glenwood took third with 11. Springfield High had 10, followed by Bloomington (6), Normal Community West (4) and Pekin (0) and Washington (0).

Class 1A

Sacred Heart-Griffin and Jacksonville each qualified a singles player and a doubles team to the Class 1A state finals from the Jacksonville Sectional.

The second-seeded doubles team of Evan Aleman and Adam Wheeling of SHG won the title by beating the No. 1 seed Daniel Dyer and Alex Strong of Quincy Notre Dame 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the title match. Aleman and Wheeling got to the championship match by defeating No. 3 seed Colin Knollhoff and Bennett Karr of Jacksonville 6-4, 6-4 in the semis.

Before the semifinal, Knollhoff and Karr needed three sets, pulling out a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over No. 6 Paul Slusser and Noah Borkowski of Jerseyville in the quarterfinals. The Jacksonville tandem finished fourth after fourth seed Jaxon Brunaugh and Isaac Wargo of Jerseyville posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the third-place match.

Earning a second chance

For the second straight weekend, Jacksonville’s Cole Nebel reached the singles title match in a postseason tournament. Nebel matched his second-place finish from the CS8 tourney with another runner-up showing at the sectional.

He defeated Jerseyville’s Dylan Molloy 6-2, 6-3 in the quarters before getting tested and coming back to beat SHG’s Kaden Smith 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the semis. Jerseyville’s Dax Goetten defeated Nebel 6-1, 6-1 in the championship match.

Smith, who defeated Peter Damm of QND 6-3, 6-1 in the quarters, swept Hillsboro’s Mark Mattson 6-0, 6-0 in the third-place match to advance to his first state finals.

Jerseyville won the sectional with 23 points. SHG was second with 17 and Jacksonville had 16 points for third. QND followed with 14 points and the rest of the standings are as follows: Alton Marquette (8), Hillsboro (6), Bunker Hill (Coop) 4, Rochester (2) and Lincoln (0).