By Devin Prasad (@the_d_prasad)
The boys’ tennis team compares their team sectional to the group of death in the World Cup. According to senior Joey Hafertepe, the sectional meet held at Deerfield High School on May 22 and 23 is home to four of the top eight teams in the state.
While Hafertepe and his partner Ryan Weiler lost in the second round of the tournament, they feel they played one of the best matches of their season, further proving the difficulty of the team’s sectional.
The team is happy with how the season went, according to junior Mike Schwingbeck. He is happy with the way the team was able to bond and with the way the program was able to improve overall. The team was no longer as focused on hanging out with friends the whole time; they genuinely wanted to get better Schwingbeck believes.
In his second year as varsity head coach, Tom Kujawa has made some serious changes to the tennis program.
“I feel like a lot of people looked at tennis as sort of a joke, but [people see] us as a bunch of hard workers,” Hafertepe said. “[Kujawa] has really changed the program in emphasizing athleticism and smarts over skill.”
Before Kujawa, the team did not do as many workouts and was not forced to push themselves. Their practices now consist of running and other workouts that, according to Schwingbeck, push the kids to the edge. In the past, the team would focus more on hitting balls or scrimmaging.
Overall, the team finished second in conference behind only Barrington.
“It was a great season,” Hafertepe said. “Nothing can compare.”