Boys tennis taking it one swing at a time

The boys tennis team has been making progress this season. On April 5^th, the boys played Fenton and came out strong with a four to three victory. Seniors Bradley Wilson and Jake Dluhy played strong at first doubles along with junior Jack Kemper and senior Luke Jebb at second. Sophomores Ryan Gradishire and Jimmy Rock held strong at third doubles and senior Nate Hanley and junior Jeremy Rolewicz held up at fourth doubles.

On April 9th, the boys had a tough time at the Leyden Quad finishing in fourth place. They came back with another four to three victory against Addison Trail and Elmwood Park.

Kemper said, “The season has been the same if not better than last year. We have a really strong team and I think the rest of the season will only get better.”

The Bulldogs defeated Shepard with a four to one victory, but fell short playing conference competitor Timothy Christian. Kemper said, “Timothy Christian and Glenbard South are going to be tough to beat.”

Junior Aron Perfect said, “The team has bonded really well, which makes practice very fun. It’s been a good season and we’re improving every day.”

The team will play eight more matches against conference and non-conference teams. On Wednesday May 11, the seeding will be chosen for the sectional matches. Those matches will be held on May 20^th.

Spring sports seasons officially underway

Though February 28^th is still considered winter, this is the date that most spring sports at RB begin. Excluding boys volleyball (which holds tryouts on March 7^th), every spring sport will hold their first practice or tryout on February 28. Most spring sports are non-cut sports. These include boys’ and girls’ track, boys’ and girls’ water polo, boys’ tennis, and badminton. So anybody play for these teams if they please. Here is the outlook for a few Riverside-Brookfield spring teams.

The baseball and softball teams both finished last year losing in their sectional championship. Both teams will try to take the next step in advancing further, despite losing some key graduates. The softball team was ranked in the top ten in the area for much of last year, so expectations are high. The baseball squad also has high expectations, with their tryouts and early practices being held at 5:30 in the morning. All-time RB single season batting average Matt Scott record holder graduated so the Bulldogs need a big bat to fill the number three spot in the batting order. 

As for the girls’ and boys’ track teams, they both return a lot of key members. The boys’ team has several runners coming back that ran in the state meet. Alex Amaya and Keegan Buttimer were on last year’s 4 x 800 meter relay team and are seniors this year. Amaya and Jason Pomey (now a senior) were both on the 4 x 400-meter relay team that went down state. Two girls went down state last year for the girls’ track and field team: Alexis Adams (graduate) and Brenna Mossman (now a senior). Adams took third in state in the discus and Mossman took 12^th. Look for Mossman among others to make it to Eastern Illinois for state in 2011.

The boys’ volleyball team holds tryouts a week after most spring teams, but this is most likely because they don’t play a game until they open against Morton on March 24. They have a strong schedule with plenty of games against bigger schools. The Bulldogs have games against OPRF, Hinsdale Central, and Hinsdale South, in addition to the teams they will face at tournaments during the season. This schedule should help the volleyball team in the playoffs.

The other spring sports at RB that started February 28 include boys’ and girls’ water polo, badminton, girls’ soccer, and boys’ tennis. These  are all no cut sports for spring excluding girls’ soccer.

RB boasts 21 All-conference members this fall

All fall sports have concluded, but before we move on to winter sports at Riverside-Brookfield, the Metro Suburban Conference had to hand out some hardware. 21 student-athletes in eight different sports were given the All-Conference title.

Three girls’ tennis players made all conference. Becky Pendola made All-Conference for her play in singles and Joanna Keen and Madison Powers for doubles.

Both boys’ and girls’ cross country teams had runners that made the Metro Suburban squad. Keegan Buttimer was the lone boy on varsity to make the cut and Ken Sprague made it for Frosh/Soph. Maggie McLaughlin and Jacki Grisafe were the girls to get the honor.

The boys’ golf team had two members given the honor. Junior Jack Kemper and senior Kris Strnad were all-conference after the team made it to sectionals.

The 19-17 girls’ volleyball team had two girls make All-Conference. These girls were senior Kelsey Egger and junior Elena Duve.

Though the football team did not make the playoffs, they still had the most All-Metro Suburban members of any sport at Riverside-Brookfield. Seven players were given the honor. Three All-Conference juniors were Nick Callahan, Blake Beck, and Alex Huffhines. The four seniors were Tyler Radek, Watoris Slater, John Schraidt, and Zach Sollinger.

Lastly, the boys’ soccer team had three All-Conference members. Ruben Chavez was the Offensive MVP of the MSC, and seniors Alex Amaya and TJ Armic were named to the conference team.

Pendola and Keen guide Girls Tennis

Every team needs a leader, and seniors Becky Pendola and Joanna Keen have proved themselves to be the best choices for girls tennis.

Both girls were not only chosen by the coaches, but elected by the team to be captains. “It was easy [to take a leadership role]. I’m good friends with a lot of the team so it’s not challenging to take charge,” said Pendola.

“They’re great,” said junior tennis player Gina Sapienza. “They’re good leaders and really nice to everyone.”

Pendola and Keen have been in the program for all four years at RB. “It’s been really fun, especially this year because the team got a lot closer,” said Keen.

“It’s fun. Tennis is my favorite sport, and it’s the only sport I play,” said Pendola.

These girls did not start out as expert players. “I’ve learned how to hit harder and be more aggressive, since I come off as a timid person,” said Keen.

Pendola said, “I’ve gained more power on my hits. I started out just having accuracy, but now I can hit accurately and hard.”

Tennis is not all hard work, but they have fun with it too. “Practices are my favorite part of tennis because we can mess around but still learn tennis at the same time,” said Pendola.

Keen’s favorite part was the summer camp. “The coaches gave us prizes, and everyone loved getting Fruit Roll-Ups,” she said.

Pendola and Keen both want to play tennis after they graduate RB, but only for fun.

Fall can’t cool off Tennis’ hot start

Girls varsity tennis started on a sweltering early August day, and the girls have been practicing regularly since then. Their hard work has paid off, making their record 8-1 as of September 8^th.

 “We have improved greatly since last year because of the great coaches,” said junior tennis player Nina Waszak.

 From the look on the season so far, Illiana Christian may be their biggest competitor, being the only school the team has lost to so far.

 “The hardest team was definitely Illiana, since they were the only team we lost to. They won 6-1,” said head coach Bob Hegner. Even with their one loss, the girls beat schools including Addison Trail, Montini, Elk Grove, Fenton, Morton, and Elmwood Park, with a sweep against Fenton and a near sweep against Morton.

 The team is happy with the season so far. “It’s going pretty well. The team as a whole has won most matches,” Caitlin Boxell, junior tennis player, said.

 Hegner is also happy with the way the team is playing. “Well, I mean, we’ve been doing really well. I’m happy with how the season is turning out,” he said.

Hegner has been doing a fantastic job of keeping the team morale up. “Coach has been really inspirational. The theme of the season has been the Thoreau quote ‘We build castles in the sky,’” said Boxell. She later explained that the quote is to inspire the team to start with a solid foundation and build their skills from the ground up.

Optimism high for boys tennis

Boy’s tennis has done great this year with its winning record on varsity and a win in the Wheeling Invite. Varsity Player Charles Suhjida said “I feel I did really well this year, but my goals are to get past sectionals and improve mentally in the final games of my high school career.” 

This feeling of continuing to do well through conference and into the post season is a good sign of success. Most players like Sophomore Aron Perfect feel happy about the season. “I accomplished my goals and I want to win at conference. If I do that, I think I will feel I was successful.” Perfect stated.

The season itself was good for most players but the real goals are to succeed in conference and possibly state.

There are several boys who hope to make it to state. Most of them are seniors who feel this season is the final chance at tennis glory. Suhjida said, “I feel the season went by quickly but I do not want to lose focus going into the most competitive part of the year.”

The team has a winning record and has been improving it in the past few years, but that doesn’t mean the players want to give up now. The big goals for them are to win conference and have a threepeat win. They have high hopes but an even higher swing.

More than just a rally

Spring has finally arrived which means the start of new sports. On a nice spring day, twenty-four boys tried out for the RB tennis team. Boy’s tennis is essentially a no-cut sport, so all twenty-four hopefuls made the team.

Even though all of the boys automatically made the team, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t all top-notch players. As of April 9th, the varsity team is 1-1. Their only loss so far was a conference game, which makes them 0-1 in conference. The JV team had a rough start to their season, but the players have no doubt that they will have a strong performance for the rest of the season.

When tennis coach, Tom Fuller, was asked about how he feels the team will do in conference this year, he responded with, “We’ll struggle with Timothy Christian, but we’ll have a chance to win it! Anything lower than 2^nd place would surprise me.”

Every year the tennis program expands, but it also improves as it goes along. Fuller also commented that the best part of coaching the tennis team is, “Working with the students to improve their skills. [He] couldn’t care less about winning.”

Sophomore and tennis player, Aron Perfect, said of his involvement in the sport that “Tennis is fun. It is a constant competition and it really forces you to play your hardest.”

The boys still have a long season ahead of them and are determined to make the best of it. Winning conference isn’t everything to them; they just love going out on the court everyday and being able to play a sport they love.

Girl’s tennis team takes conference title

The RB varsity girl’s tennis team concluded Conference play Saturday, October 10^th with a 1^st place victory at the MSC Conference tournament. This year the tournament had tougher competition as well, with the addition of Timothy Christian, and Illiani Christian to the mix of teams.

Senior Brittany Hite commented, “I feel like our team really stepped it up with the addition of the two new teams. The competition was tough, but we overcame it.”

1^st place victories include Judy Krolasik and Alexis Adams at second doubles, Amy Delbecq and Michelle Michaud at 3^rd doubles, Becky Pendola and Haley St. Paul at 4^th doubles, and Robin Jensen at 3^rd Singles.

The Lady Bulldogs won every single conference match this year, and this tournament victory puts them as conference champs for the fourth consecutive year.

In addition to the conference championship, the girls won the Bolingbrook, Lyden, and RB invites, as well as sweeping Downers Grove North, a very competitive non-conference team.

Hite said, “At the beginning of our season we weren’t playing so well, but I feel that our team really set our mind to it and stepped it up during the season.”

For many of the girls, the season isn’t over, with the sectional tournament coming up. The competition ramps up at the sectional level, with larger schools such as Lyons Township and Hinsdale Central being added to the mix.

Incidentally, Senior Megan Landahl remains incredibly optimistic about sectionals despite the rising competition stating, “I’m going to try my best at sectionals, but not worry too much about it. It’s my senior year and I just want to see how far I can go despite the top completion.”