IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Senior Jeffrey Chen, seen here during his freshman season at New Trier playing doubles with Mahir Wagh, cracks a high volley in 2015. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
New Trier’s boys tennis team partook in a press conference last weekend — after a intrasquad doubles tournament.
The Trevians are that good.
It wasn’t an official presser on March 9; the boys, after all, used their racket handles to mimic microphones and had fun with the impromptu session at the North Shore Racquet Club in Northbrook.
“It’s been really entertaining for me,” Trevians varsity coach Tad Eckert said a day later, referring to the high level of tennis rather than to the responses his netters had given to the queries.
A total of seven — seven! — freshmen made Eckert’s varsity this spring. The 11th-year coach had never welcomed that many rookies.
“It’s quite a collection,” said Eckert, a 1990 New Trier graduate and the 1989 state singles champion. “Our older kids, they’re familiar with the freshmen; they’d seen them play or heard about them. They’re all new to me.
“I’ve been impressed with them, on and off the court.”
Max Bengtsson — rated a five-star player by tennisrecruiting.net, with a national ranking of 64 in the Class of 2021 — heads the Trevians’ ’21 contingent. The talented all-court player resolved to play with more aggressiveness six months ago, and the approach helped him reach the intrasquad singles final March 10 against New Trier senior and Brandeis University-bound Jeffrey Chen, the fourth-place finisher in singles at the state meet last spring and half of the fifth-place doubles team (with 2016 graduate Michal Kusznerko) at the state meet two years ago.
Chen topped Bengtsson in an 8-4 pro set.
“They’re all competitive, they all hit well, and all of them are pushing the older guys and playing to win,” Chen said of the fantastic freshmen.
Chen teamed with freshman Jonas Guthmann and defeated freshmen Colin Fox and John Rogers in the intrasquad doubles championship match last weekend.
“Lots of good tennis, and everybody has been nice to me,” said Guthmann, who hits a medium-topspin forehand and a fast and flat first serve. “I was really nervous on the first day of tryouts but got more comfortable with each day.
“One of my coaches [the late Michael Caspi] told me to set goals. One of them was to make New Trier’s varsity as a freshman.”
A broken left thumb didn’t hinder Rogers’ quest to make the parent club in his first try. The righty with the two-handed backhand struck effective one-handed backhands.
Freshmen Jay Wagh, Nick Elliott and Aidan Moore also earned varsity spots. Wagh’s older brother, Mahir Wagh (Class of ’16), played doubles with Chen at the 2015 state meet. Elliott and Moore are a pair of lefties with big serves.
New Trier finished runner-up at state last year, with five of the six players on that squad back in the fold this spring. Current senior Reed Bianucci and junior Jake Zipoli placed sixth in doubles at state last spring; sophomore Dylan Drier and Nathan Friedman (Class of ’17) won four of six doubles matches at state; and senior Peter Leutz, like Chen, made it to state as a singles qualifier last spring.
Eckert also kept juniors Matt Lee, Brent Saltzman and Charlie Raftery, along with sophomore Gavin Porter.
“We’ve got options,” Eckert said of the numerous potent lineups he could deploy in 2018. “This year’s freshman class is stacked, and we’re not the only team with very good freshmen. Most of the other top teams in the state [including reigning state champion Naperville Central, Hinsdale Central, Stevenson and Glenbrook South] have at least one strong freshman on varsity.
“Our freshmen are no longer in scared-about-tryouts mode. And their parents appreciate what the older guys are doing for their kids; they’re driving the freshmen around.”
The team plans to fly to California on March 22, the start of its spring break trip in Newport Beach. The Trevians will compete in a two-day tournament after scrimmaging against a team from Hawaii. NT is scheduled to face Beacon High School (New York) in an opener.
Notable: Former Mundelein High School girls tennis coach Jim Drier is the father of New Trier sophomore tennis player Dylan Drier, who reached the singles semifinals of NT’s intrasquad tournament last weekend. … NT tennis coach Tad Eckert, on Trevians senior and 2017 state doubles qualifier Reed Bianucci, a varsity quarterback last fall: “Reed looked so small on the football field. On tennis courts? Bigger, much bigger.” Former NT standout Robert Stineman, a two-time state singles champion (2010-11) who played tennis at Stanford University, might join NT’s boys tennis staff this spring, Eckert said last weekend. … Trevians freshman Max Bengtsson, on his favorite professional tennis player, Roger Federer: “Chill guy.” … Eckert, a New Trier junior at the time, beat West Aurora’s Paul Pridmore for the state singles title in 1989 and lost to him in the state singles final the following year. … Eckert, on senior and three-time state qualifier Jeffrey Chen: “Loud shots, quiet demeanor. He lets his racket do most of the talking for him.” … Eckert hung out with his stepson, Highcrest Middle School fifth-grader Casey Fenner, at New Trier’s intrasquad singles tournament last weekend at the North Shore Racquet Club in Northbrook. Fenner’s medium-topspin forehand is becoming a reliable weapon, Eckert noted.
Jeffrey Chen of the Trevians whacks a backhand during state singles action last spring. He took fourth in the tourney. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER