2008 Men's Tennis Season Preview
The Behrend Lions men’s tennis team comes into the 2008 season striving to claim top honors. Eight returners come back to lead the blue and white to challenge for the title. Tenth-year head coach Jeff Barger is confident in his team’s potential to win the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) championship that the men’s program earned in 2004.
“We have nine veterans that all saw a lot of time last year,” said coach Barger. “We will have a good mix of newcomers. We may be using many different line-ups.”
The men improved from 2006 to finish
8-12 overall in 2007, but remained atop the AMCC with a strong 5-1 record.
The men finished tied for first place with Frostburg State in the
regular-season, but finished third in the AMCC Tournament.
The senior class will be comprised of three All-Conference performers,
including Miles Boyea (St. Vincent, WI/Upper Canada) who was 2006 AMCC
Player of the Year, Trevor Dougherty (Meadville/Meadville), and Jim Palmer
(Sharon/Sharon). Boyea was the winner of the number-two singles
championship at the 2007 AMCC Tournament with a 6-1 and 6-4 victory. Fellow
senior Dougherty took the sixth-singles championship, beating his opponents
6-2 and 6-3 respectively. Palmer went 5-1 in the AMCC for doubles and
singles play to help lead the Behrend Lions to first among the conference in
the regular season. Daryl Nowacki (Warren/Warren) returns for his
second and final year on the team and will look to lead newcomers into the
next level of play. Third-year captain Dougherty and Boyea will be expected
to take charge of the blue and white through the 2008 season.
The lone junior this season will be James Getty (Erie/Harborcreek). Getty was the team’s Rookie of the Year in 2006. He will be relied upon to increase the level of play for doubles teams.
Rounding out returnees to the men’s squad are four sophomores. This talented class consists of Kelly Manning (Sharpsville/Kenedy Catholic), Shane Mosier (Kersey/St. Marys), Evan Shaffer (Valencia/Knoch), and Brad Nagel (West Alexander/McGuffey). Manning finished with a 4-2 mark in AMCC doubles play, combining with Nagel and Moiser for a couple of key doubles wins for the Behrend Lions. Nagel was also honored with the 2007 most improved player award, while Shaffer looks to step up into starting roles in 2008.
Eight freshmen players make up a talented incoming recruiting class. Players include Sami Badri (Dubai/Dubai American Academy), Jacob Fling (Erie/Villa Maria), Jason Grosch (Warren/Warren), Elliot Blackstone (Wexford/Pine-Richland), Jon Henderson (Upper St. Clair/Upper St. Clair), John Michalko (Washington/McGuffey), Griffin Olon (Greenville/Greenville), Kyle Amy (Corry/Corry), and Erkin Nasirli (Baku/Baku Oxford School). “Most of these freshmen will play right away,” said Barger. “This is a talented group, all of which will be pushing for playing time.”
The 2008 schedule opens up against power-house Baldwin-Wallace on February 9 in Ohio. The men will then travel to host Waynesburg College on February 16 at 11:00 a.m. and Grove City College on February 29 at 5:00 p.m. The blue and white will then travel south to Hilton Head, SC for their annual spring training trip, where they will play five matches over the March spring break. The Behrend Lions are scheduled to compete against the University of Charleston, Northwestern of Minnesota, Eastern Nazarene, University of Texas, and West Liberty. Upon returning the men will go on a five match homestand, where they will play conference matches against Pitt-Greensburg, Frostburg State, and Penn State Altoona. The AMCC Championships will round out the 2008 season for the men. Championships are to be held on April 13 at the Oxford Athletic Club in Wexford, PA.
“The conference is wide open,” said Barger “Frostburg and Altoona will be playing well again, and Greensburg continues to improve.”
Coach Barger feels he has the right talent to capture the AMCC title, but not without some more work. “We will spend a lot of time on our doubles play in the preseason,” added Barger. “We must play better doubles to win the conference. With improvements in that area we can challenge for the 2008 title.”