If first impressions are lasting impressions, the St. Dom’s boys’ tennis team is going to be a hard one for coach Kevin Cullen to forget. Just three matches into the season, and the players are already rounding into late-season form, and impressing their coach along the way.

“I think we played the best match we’ve played, as a group, in the past four years,” Cullen said after his Saints posted a 5-0 victory over perennial Western C power Winthrop.

“For my expectations of the team, to where these guys are right now, they’re really playing that well,” Cullen said. “All five matches (Monday) against a really good team, and they all played well.”

Leading the charge for St. Dom’s is Zack DeBlois at the top singles position, but it’s been the emergence of Austin Christopher as a tennis player (he’s already an all-conference hockey goalie) that has added a measure of depth to the team.

“In the match against Winthrop, his opponent kept hitting the ball at him, and with some speed, and he just kept getting it back,” Cullen said. “Finally, on one point, he put one away with a big overhead, and he was almost laughing and just saying, ‘How did you get all of those back?’ That’s how Austin is. If he can reach it, it’s coming back.”

The Saints have a loaded schedule this week, as well. After Winthrop on Monday, the Saints will face the 4-1 Lisbon Greyhounds on Wednesday, and the unbeaten Dirigo Cougars on Friday in a showdown some believe will be the match of the season in the MVC.

“We have so much respect for that school, and the athletes they have there are just great,” Cullen said. “They’re just loaded with phenomenal athletes. We have some great athletes, too, and I think they’re really starting to believe that.”

Cullen said his philosophy of patience is sinking in.

“I try to coach tennis like I do golf,” Cullen said. “We’re not an aggressive team at all, we’re very patient, and we play the match as it comes to us. We’ll hit 15 to 20 shots if it means we’re going to win the point.”

Big test awaits

Lisbon High School, of course, would love to take away some of the luster of Friday’s Dirigo/St. Dom’s matchup earlier than that, with a key showdown Wednesday.

“I will put the pressure on St. Dom’s by claiming that they are the team to beat in the MVC this year,” Lisbon coach Paul Giggey said. “They are experienced and well coached.”

Not that the Greyhounds have been slouches this season. No. 2 singles player Zack Turner has yet to lose, and No. 3 man Levi Dussault is 4-1 as a first-year singles competitor. The first doubles tandem of Aaron French and Roger Jama have an impressive 4-1 record, as well.

“We realize that the second half of our schedule will be more challenging,” Giggey said.

More challenges, it appears, for which the Greyhounds will be ready.

Depth leading to early success

While scheduling conflicts and Mother Nature have conspired to rob Dirigo of a handful of tennis matches early this season, the girls’ squad is finding some success in the matches it is playing thanks in large part of some solid depth, particularly at the top of the lineup.

“It’s a continuous battle for the 1-2 positions,” coach Art Chamberlain said. “Betsy Noyes has played in two matches at No. 1, and Addie Fuller has played in the other. They battle each other in practice all the time.”

Noyes was the Cougars’ top player in most matches a year ago, while Fuller played most of the season at No. 3.

“I tell them all the time, we can’t lose, because either way, we have a strong player at No. 2, also,” Chamberlain said.

The lone blemish on Dirigo’s record this season is a setback to Hall-Dale, and in a rematch, Chamberlain said if anything, he feels the Cougars can get closer, if not perhaps pull out a win.

“We’ll do better if we have another shot at them, I think,” he said. “We had two tiebreakers at second doubles in that match, and our first doubles was a great match. We’re on the doorstep to being competitive with them.”

Copy the Story Link