BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer
It’s officially “go time” for the Spotswood High School boys tennis team.Though they didn’t necessarily enter this season expecting to defend their Blue Division title of a year ago, especially after losing half of their starting team to graduation, the Chargers find themselves in the hunt for the title nonetheless.
But at 5-3 overall, and 5-2 in the division, the room for error has shrunk.
“We pretty much realize we need to win out in the division,” said head coach Jeff Marvinny.
And that won’t be easy, as the Chargers have rematches with the two teams that beat them earlier this year coming up over the next two weeks.
“We lost to Highland Park, 4-1, and to Middlesex, 3-2, but then Middlesex beat Highland Park, and Metuchen beat Middlesex after we beat Metuchen,” Marvinny said. “So it’s a tough division. All the teams seem to be capable of beating one another, so it pretty much comes down to matchups.”
But even being in position to challenge for the division is something Marvinny would have signed off on before the season began.
“We didn’t know if we had enough coming back to expect another championship run,” he said. “We lost four big players.”
PHOTSO BY CHRIS KELLY staff Spotswood first singles player Miles Vidreiro (above) battled with South River’s Rodrigo Silva (l) on Tuesday during a match won by the Chargers at South River High School. Last year’s squad finished 12-7 overall, won the division and advanced all the way to the quarterfinals of the Central Jersey Group II tournament, before losing to Neptune, 3-2.
This time around, the Chargers are hoping for a similar run if and when they get into the state tournament. After a win 3-2 on Tuesday over South River, the Chargers found themselves needing just one win in its next four matches to earn that postseason berth.
“We’ve worked real hard at trying to get back to the states,” Marvinny said. “Making it there two years in a row is good for this team.”
The Chargers are led by a trio of upperclassmen, starting with senior Miles Vidreiro, the team’s second singles player last year who has moved up to first singles this time around.
Vidreiro is 4-3 thus far, and has played well, according to his coach.
Junior Mike Coffey and senior Mike Beardsly made up the Chargers’ second doubles team last year, but have made the jump to second and third singles, respectively. Coffey is 5-2, while Beardsly is 3-4.
Doubles play has been a strength for Spotswood thus far.
“We have seven quality players who have been in and out of the two doubles spots,” Marvinny said. “They’re all pretty much even, and each time it comes down to challenge matches, we get different results.
“But that has been one of our strengths, our depth at doubles.”
Sophomore Justin Carlson and junior Dave Underwood currently hold down the first doubles position, though they have only had two matches together.
At second doubles, Marvinny sent out senior Mike Golias and sophomore Gordon Shum against South River on Tuesday, where they won, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, but has also used junior Mike Przybylko, senior Jeff Smith and sophomore Jeremy Shum at times this year.
In addition, Przybylko has also played a match at third singles.
“Second doubles has been our strength,” the coach said. “We’re 7-1 in the spot, so basically whoever has played in that spot has won for us.”
The Chargers will take on a loaded J.F. Kennedy team later today, before facing Woodbridge on Friday.
One more win means a state tournament berth, while one more loss in the division means the end of a title pursuit for Spotswood.
But like he said, Marvinny will be far from devastated if the Chargers can’t bring home another Blue Division title.
“We hoped to compete for the division, but we more or less set out to give ourselves a chance,” he said. “And we’ve done that.”
Notes … While the Blue Division title chase should be an interesting one down the stretch, things are equally tight in the Red Division.
The East Brunswick Bears, the top-ranked team in the GMC, sit atop the division at 9-0 and are without question the team to beat.
The Bears are solid in both singles and doubles, will be the favorite once again in the upcoming GMC Tournament.
But there are a host of other quality teams in the Red Division, including a resurgent Old Bridge squad that has bounced back nicely from an 0-4 start to get back to a 6-5 mark.
They stumbled a bit on Tuesday, losing a 4-1 match to second-ranked South Brunswick, but they have played their way back into position to earn a postseason berth, something that looked like a long shot when the Knights were 0-4, and looking ahead to a brutal Red Division schedule.
Among the other teams putting together strong seasons in the Red Division include South Brunswick, who is remarkably 9-1 on the year despite losing all of its starters to graduation from last year’s 12-7 team, and J.P. Stevens, a perennially strong team that is 8-4 on the year.
In the White Division, North Brunswick is running away from the pack, racing out to a 10-1 start (8-0 in the division), while J.F. Kennedy (10-2, 8-1) and Monroe (7-3, 7-2) are trying to keep pace.
For teams on the bubble for the state tournament, these could be a hectic couple of days, with the deadline quickly approaching.
Teams hoping to qualify for the state tournament need to be at or above the .500 mark at the end of play Tuesday.