Boys tennis: Energized Neuqua Valley shuts out Waubonsie Valley
As one of only two seniors on the Neuqua Valley boys tennis team, Jared Bennick is bringing leadership along with his solid singles game.
"I'm just trying to keep (everyone) motivated because we play all of the time every day," Bennick said. "I'm just trying to get the energy up a little bit and crack some jokes, have some fun with the team. That usually gets people more energized to play."
Make no mistake, the Wildcats are serious about an even better season than their recent past. On Thursday they won their first dual in the restructured DuPage Valley Conference 7-0 at Waubonsie Valley.
Neuqua (2-0) lost only one or two games in six victories. In the final completed match Neuqua junior Jake Anderson and sophomore Sid Sudhir topped senior Rajas Shringapure and sophomore Aashul Chawla 7-5, 6-2 at No. 4 doubles.
Singles winners were junior two-time state singles qualifier Eddie Neuman, Bennick and junior Nishesh Saikrishna at Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Junior Alex Neuman and sophomore Jack Considine, sophomores Tyler Beck and Christopher Smith and junior Nick Nasso and sophomore Saahil Javeri won at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 doubles.
Rohan Sanjay, the Wildcats' other senior, is usually in the lineup but played exhibition. He's recently missed practice time finalizing his college plans to study economics at Vanderbilt or UCLA.
"The past few years we have had kind of a quiet team so just cheering each other on (will be important) and helping each other, motivating each other. That'll help our team win matches and hopefully win conference," Eddie Neuman said.
The Warriors (1-2) were minus one starter. Waubonsie Valley coach Phil Galow has been encouraged by freshman Elliott Dam at No. 1 singles and the No. 1 doubles team of senior Harper Cole and junior Andrew Luckett.
A receiver and cornerback in football, Cole is playing tennis for the first time since grade school. Cole and Luckett are winless, but they've lost two sets in tiebreakers.
"(Galow) has talked to me about playing before. I hadn't played in a while but just figured I'd come out and kind of have some fun and see if I can win a few matches," Cole said.
"Tennis is a little bit of an athlete's game. Once you get to the better players there's a lot better technique and I'm kind of finding that out. But as the year goes on, I'm sure through practice the technique will get there a little bit and we'll be able to win some matches."
The Wildcats' biggest DVC challenger should be defending champion and 2017 Class 2A champion Naperville Central, fourth at state in 2018.
Their dual meeting is next Thursday.
At the season-opening Libertyville Invitational, Beck and Smith won No. 2 doubles. In the dual victory over a New Trier split squad, Alex Neuman and Considine won eight games in losing to the Trevians' usual No. 1 doubles team.
Eddie Neuman continues to have high aspirations after going 2-2 last year at state.
"I feel pretty good because a lot of (talented) seniors graduated," Neuman said.
"Eddie, to me, mentally is so tough," Neuqua coach Trudy Bennorth said. "He's very coachable. He listens well and the wind doesn't bother him. Great ground strokes, isn't afraid to come to the net and his serve has gotten a lot stronger."
The Wildcats also should get postseason help from a new sectional assignment without Naperville North and Metea Valley. A state singles qualifier as a freshman, Bennick hopes he can take advantage.
"I want to go (to state) one more time. I think senior year would be a good time to go," Bennick said. "This summer I worked on my consistency a lot, my patience because a lot of times I just go for winners."
The Warriors beat St. Charles East 4-3 April 8. The season-opening 7-0 loss to Batavia March 21 was the first match Galow remembered his team playing before spring break.
"When you play a team (Neuqua) that's serious about playing, and they play a lot in the off-season and you don't play, it shows," said Galow who played five seniors. "I know a lot of mine (up top) are younger. They played hard, but we make too many unforced errors. You're not going to compete with Neuqua. Hopefully they'll get more serious and try to fix some things."