LINWOOD — The Ocean City High School boys tennis team is off to a 7-1 start this season, powered by a host of familiar faces.
“We are pretty senior-heavy and we bring back our entire lineup,” head coach Tim Kelley said Friday. “The only change is we had our second singles beat out our first singles from last year, so Joey Goodman is now first singles and Chase Bowman is second singles.”
Todd Windfelder is back at third singles, as are Gabe Meron and Brendan Sardy at first doubles and JD Polcini and Jake Collo at second doubles. Wilson Stauffer filled in for Collo in Friday’s match at Mainland because he is next on the depth roster.
Kelley said his team is taking it one game at a time.
“We had a lot of guys come back, so they do have experience, but they have goals for themselves that they need to come to practice every day, work hard every day, like they have been, and then the rest will take care of itself,” he said.
Kelley knew Friday’s match against the Mainland Regional High School Mustangs would be tough.
“We always tell our guys, whoever’s going to win, there’s no way anybody’s going to win 5-0. Whether we win or they win, it’s not going to be 5-0. It’s going to be 3-2 or 4-1, and it’s most likely going to be 3-2 with a couple tiebreakers mixed in,” Kelley said. “It’s good, though. It’s our school rival and it’s our group rival, and it’s just good to get to play them early. And then obviously we’ll get a chance to play them again at home.”
Kelley was on the mark about the match score. The Mustangs prevailed 3-2.
Bowman won at second singles, 6-0, 6-2, and Meron and Sardy won at first doubles, 6-1, 6-3. Goodman lost to Mustang Luigi Batioja at first singles, 6-3, 6-4. Windfelder went down 6-3, 6-2 at third singles and Polcini and Stauffer lost 6-0, 6-3.
Kelley expects tough competition from Middle Township and St. Augustine Prep and a couple of “tough teams” out of conference, Haddonfield and Southern. “We’re trying to get a few more as well,” he added, to give the players some foes they don’t normally face.
“We played Cumberland, who’s in our group again this year. They’re going to be tough. They were inexperienced, so we feel like we kind of got lucky playing them early before they gained the experience,” he said. “They’re going to be better once it comes to playoff time.
“Even though Mainland is our rival, they see these kids all the time, they play against them in other sports,” he explained, so the out-of-conference teams let them “break away from the familiarity of people that you know and get to see just some good competition.”
The Red Raider boys beat Middle Township 4-1 and St. Augustine 5-0 along with their wins against Cumberland (4-1), Cedar Creek (3-2), Egg Harbor Township (5-0), Vineland (5-0) and Wildwood Catholic (5-0).
The team was going to face St. Augustine on Tuesday then has three straight road matches before hosting rival Mainland at 4 p.m. Friday, April 24.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
