Tennis Ends on a Hopeful Note

Boys’ tennis competes at Colorado’s 4A Regional Tournament.

TJ Spartan Tennis Stand-out, Jeremy Albright. Photo by Ryan Woods

On Thursday, October 4^th, and Friday, October 5^th, the boys’ tennis team headed over to Colorado Academy to play in the 4A Regional Tournament.

Although none of the TJ tennis players qualified for the State tournament, there were still positive aspects to the tournament.  The boys finished in 4^th place, which according to Head Coach Tim Cueva, was better than they had done in the previous years.  “Getting 4^th place earned us 26 points, which was a huge improvement.  Last year, our team did better than they had in the pervious years, but we only got 12 points,” said Cueva, who believes the team is moving in the right direction.

The team that was able to defeat the mighty Spartans was Colorado Academy, who eventually became the region champions.  Most of the players were able to play for 3^rd place with the exception of Freshman Number Four Doubles, Willy Schoolman and Max Bublitz, who played in the second place match for the right to go to state.  Unfortunately, the duo couldn’t pull off the victory.  Number Three Singles, Freshman Tyler Fairbairn, was successful and defeated everyone on his side of the bracket but was unable to pull out the win against Alexander Dawson.

In all, Cueva said he saw great improvement throughout the team.  “In the next few years, we hope to send a few people to state,” said the coach.  The boys were able to finish their season with eight wins and one loss, which was to George Washington.  Senior Jeremy Albright was able to finish his regular season undefeated.

Next year, there will be quite a few returners to the Spartan Tennis Team.  With only three seniors on the team this year, Cueva says the team has good young talent that will be able to move up and fill those holes.  “We always hope there will be good incoming freshmen,” explains Cueva.  “With the changing demographic of TJ, there should be a much more diverse set of athletes which gives potential for all sports at TJ to improve.”