Varsity aims for City.
Boys' Tennis begins season in Conifer. photo by Rebecca Holt
School is back in session: TJ athletes are out on the field, in the gym or, as in Coach Joel Belmer and company’s case, on the court.
With seven returning varsity members, Mitch Montgomery, Tom Gengler, Andrew Becker, Ganbayar Bayarsalkhan, Dominic Murray, Christopher Moore and Scott Bruskin, the team has high expectations.
Head coach Joel Belmer, a former member of the St. Ambrose University tennis team in Davenport, GA., has high hopes for his boys. “I have extremely high expectations for this year’s tennis team. I can tell that a lot of the guys played over the summer and are taking it a lot more seriously.”
The young coach has his players geared up for a run at city, despite strong competition from talented schools such as George Washington and East. “We are working harder to be one of the top tennis schools in DPS,” said Belmer. Not only is the team looking better skill-wise, the squad finally has matching uniforms this season in contrast of the dismal looking polos and shorts of the previous year. “Our team has a much more competitive attitude this year; it will be very exciting to watch them play,” exclaimed Belmer.
To start off the season, the boys traveled up to Conifer to square off against the Lobos. They gave it their all but could not come out with the victory, losing 6 to 1. The team received strong efforts from #1 singles Scott Bruskin and #2 singles Dominic Murray, but it just was not enough to shut down the Lobos’ potent team. The single victory of the match came from the #1 doubles team of Mitch Montgomery and Tom Gengler. The tandem handled their opponent 6-1, 6-4. “Hopefully we can build off of this defeat,” said senior Scott Bruskin. “From now on it is only practice, practice, practice.”
Make sure to make the short trip to Lincoln High School on September 1st to catch the varsity squad in action. The match will begin at 4:00.
