Graig MantleWith a team of brand new faces behind the net, Cal Poly’s men’s tennis team is ready to pound the court and regain the momentum with which they ended their undefeated regular spring season.
Speaking from the ITA All-American Tournament in Tulsa, Okla. where the players are competing until Wednesday, head coach Justin McGrath said, “We’re here at the All-American now, and honestly, we’re having a rough time. But we do know what to work on from here.”
The Mustangs’ spring 2007 season ended with the men’s tennis team making school history and holding the Big West Conference title for an undefeated regular season. The team went into the Big West Conference Tournament with the top seed, but lost the tournament title in the finals to UC Santa Barbara.
McGrath receied much credit for last year’s undefeated regular season. In his very first year at Cal Poly he helped the team go from 0-3 in 2006 to 4-0 in 2007.
With only three returning players this fall, McGrath is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“We’re just trying to figure it out,” he explained. We don’t have Matt Baca (Cal Poly’s No. 1 singles player who graduated last year) with his four years of experience; we have a bunch of fresh faces. We’re definitely at the developmental stages.”
The three returning players are junior Nick Berger, sophomore Robert Foy and junior Darryn Young. Berger played very well as a No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles player last season. Foy played at the No. 5 slot as the team’s sole freshman, after being hailed from New Zealand as one of the country’s top junior tennis players there. Young, originally from South Africa, earned Big West First Team honors as a sophomore No. 2 singles player and plays at this week’s All-American tourney.
“We’ve all been working pretty hard during our off-season,” Young said. “We’ve been playing a lot of individual matches and just getting out on the court and practicing. But I do think it’ll take a little time to get back to where we finished off last spring.”
The rest of the roster rounds out with six new players. McGrath admits that he currently has no idea what the player positioning will look like come spring. “There are no clear-cut No. 1 players. This season gives everyone a chance to play it out.”
Two juniors added to the team are Andrew Gerst from Redondo Beach, and Robert Zacks from Oxnard.
“We’re all excited to get out there and play,” Gerst said. “During the summer a lot of us were playing singles tournaments to keep in the game and stay in shape.”
The other four players are all freshmen: Drew Jacobs from Moorpark, Nikita Shchepin from Walnut Creek, Blake Wardman from San Clemente and, imported from Sweden, Alexander Sonesson.
For Sonesson, it’s not only the newness of the team that he has to compensate for, but also the differences in the way collegiate sports are played. “This is all new to me,” Sonnesson admitted. “The way college sports work here in America is a little strange and I still have to figure a lot of it out.”
Culture shock aside, Sonnesson is not at all confused about how he expects to perform on the court. “I’m really psyched for the whole season. We have a good team, and it’s fall now, so I think with continued good play we can qualify for the (Big West) tournament in the spring.”
Coach McGrath agrees, saying,”These guys are very hungry to get better. We’ll be able to compete for the Big West and have a shot at the NCAA.”