Norton tennis players get ready for Woodridge matchup
By Jeff Gorman
NORTON — The Norton High School boys tennis team will travel to Woodridge High School April 4 in an early season battle of Portage Trail Conference (PTC) rivals.
Norton posted its best record ever (15-4) last year.
“We lost five seniors from that team, so we’re very young this year,” said seventh-year coach Terry Sense.
Norton’s top three singles players are sophomore Dan Fearer, junior Daniel Wallace and sophomore Brandon Farmer.
“Our top two players are very similar,” said Sense. “We wanted to put our sophomore in the No. 1 spot to give him three years there, rather than start him at No. 2 and ask him to make another jump later. “Dan may struggle a bit at No. 1, but he picks stuff up very quickly,” he added.
The top doubles team consists of senior Kevin Langford and freshman Jared Liotta. Competing for spots on the No. 2 doubles team will be juniors Adam Friend, Adam Gibson and Nate Horrigan and sophomores Anthony Lane and Derek Jeffrey.
Sense hopes his team will be able to challenge for a top spot in the PTC after previously competing against larger schools in the Suburban League.
“We’d like to feed off the success we had last season,” he said. “Kent Roosevelt is tough, and Woodridge has seven seniors back from last year. We beat both teams 3-2 last year, but again, we’ve lost five seniors.
“Our goal is to finish in the top three in the league,” Sense added. “We would like to win the league title, but it might be a two-year process. If we don’t do it this year, it may be a stepping stone to next year.”
Woodridge has all seniors returning to the singles ranks and the top doubles team.
Mark Spillan, Rob Heffelman and Chris Cargnel will fill the singles positions, while Chris Durr and Kevin Himelright will play on the No. 1 doubles team.
The team also includes Sam Haas, Luke Lehar, Jacob Mayer, Adam Murray, Ben Orr, Eric Resko, Matt Orr, Eric Shega, Jim Sheikh, Mike Wegner and Peter Weiss.
“Kent is always tough,” said Woodridge coach Theresa Lemke. “They are the team we have to watch out for. We split with Norton a lot, and the other teams in the PTC should be good as well.”
Like Sense, Lemke’s goal for her team is to finish in the top three in the PTC.
“We would also like to get someone out of the sectionals and to have a winning season,” she added. “I’ve seen a lot of improvement from these kids since they were freshmen, and I’m excited to work with them in their last year.”
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