Boys tennis continues winning streak

The team huddles up before an April match. The varsity tennis team has now won two matches in a row by a margin of 7-0, rising above Cedarburg and Germantown. This will help us build confidence going into the conference tournament, Coach Jackie Egelhoff said.

The team huddles up before an April match. The varsity tennis team has now won two matches in a row by a margin of 7-0, rising above Cedarburg and Germantown. “This will help us build confidence going into the conference tournament,” Coach Jackie Egelhoff said.

After stumbling many times on the road to victory, it would seem the boys tennis team has finally found its footing.

The Highlanders continued their winning streak last night against Cedarburg, sweeping the meet 7-0. The team of Andrew Mullins and Micah Rubin, seniors, saw great success that evening, winning every game and both sets against Cedarburg’s duo of Chuck Willer and Trevor Jerko.

“Off the court, Micah and I have been focusing on strategies and working on improving our mental game,” Mullins said. “The results are beginning to show in our most recent wins.”

Also notable was Mullins’ sophomore brother Eric’s victory; E. Mullins won his match against opponent Tommy Willer after a first set that lasted over an hour. In the end, singles players David Berman, junior, Robbie Baranko, freshman, Alec Schultz, senior, and Connor McPike, junior, and doubles teams of Chase Gabriel, senior, and Aaron Holman, junior, and Patrick Findling, senior, and Sydan Parker, sophomore, all saw victory on Wednesday night.

It’s a victory that couldn’t come too soon for the Highlanders, who have had to adjust to losing players throughout the season to injury.

“I still haven’t really played my full lineup,” Coach Jackie Mueller Egelhoff, head tennis coach, said of the effects injury has had on her team this season. “Tucker Gabriel is out with a slight injury now.”

Team captain C. Gabriel would agree with his coach.

“We have had issues with players being gone,” he said. “Our loss to (Whitefish) Bay last week had a lot to do with singles players being absent, but we’re getting there as a team.”

However, those losses aren’t weighing on the Highlanders’ minds as they bask in the glory of their second straight win. Instead, the boys and their coach look forward to and are training for the conference tournament next week.

“The team gains confidence with big victories such as this one,” A. Mullins said. “It helps when we go into tough matches against schools like Nicolet and Whitefish Bay.”

The boys also anticipate their rematch against rival Nicolet Knights; the Highlanders are currently ranked second going into next week’s conference matches, with the Knights in first.

“We’re trying to inch any wins we can get,” C. Gabriel said of the Highlanders’ team objective on the road to conference. “With our loss to Nicolet, we’re trying to get all the points we can.”

Coach Egelhoff was pleased with her team’s results, stating that this is exactly where she wanted her team to be at this point in the season.

“We’re into the last stage of the season, and now’s the time when I want the boys to feel confident and to be peaking,” Coach Egelhoff said. “We’re feeling good. We had a good win last night and will have a good competition tomorrow.”

The boys will next rematch Whitefish Bay on Thursday night, and look forward to a chance at redemption for last week’s loss in the Sweet 16 tournament.

“We had a loss to Bay during the tournament that we’ll hopefully get back on Thursday,” Coach Egelhoff said. “It’s all moving in the right direction.”