LASALLE — Senior Jimmy Chavez brought home a third-place medal in the No. 1 singles division to lead the Rochelle Hub varsity tennis team at the Interstate 8 Conference tournament on Saturday afternoon. Rochelle (6-10, 1-4 Interstate 8) finished tied for fourth with Ottawa, scoring 11 points in the tournament. The Hubs host the IHSA 1A Rochelle Sectional on Friday.

Chavez went 2-1 over three matches in the No. 1 singles competition, defeating LaSalle-Peru’s Jackson Sellers before conceding an 0-6, 1-6 loss against Sycamore’s Steven Chen. Chavez clinched third place with a hard-fought win over Kaneland’s Noah Pawlak, overcoming a close first-set loss before taking both the second and third sets to score a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Sophomore Philip Winters finished fifth in the No. 2 singles competition, falling 5-7, 0-6 against Kaneland’s AJ Faruga and 0-6, 0-6 against Sycamore’s Regan Ni. Senior Parker Lenkaitis and sophomore Mark Green also finished fifth in the No. 1 doubles competition, conceding a tough 6-7(5), 6-0, 3-6 loss to Morris netters Connor Ahearn and Shane Phillips in the opening round. The duo bounced back with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Kaneland’s Luke McEvoy and Gabe Delgado.

Sophomore Caleb Mortensen and senior Alex McBride took fifth in the No. 3 doubles competition, falling 0-6, 4-6 against Ottawa’s Ayden Sexton and Kaden Araujo before defeating Kaneland’s Nicholas Collins and Aiden Gutierrez. Seniors Austin Raleigh and Eli Luxton placed sixth in the No. 2 doubles competition, nearly taking their opening-round match but falling just short in a 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 4-6 loss to Ottawa’s Caden Walter and Landon Sawin. Raleigh and Luxton fell to Kaneland’s Luke Pawlak and Owen Schlipp 2-6, 3-6 in the fifth-place match.