By Kallen Prosak
Staff Writer
The Jamesville-DeWitt High School Varsity Boys Tennis team has done it again. The boys have continued their now six-year run as league champions, along with defending their sectional title.
The team members who advanced to sectionals in the post-season were seniors Abe Davis, Dan Della Posta, and Nick Bono, junior Rahul Raina, and eighth-grader Rob Dotterer. These five played in championship matches. Seniors Amir Nazem and Steven Procopio also played a consolation match for third place in the Class B Sectional Tournament.
In order to qualify for sectionals players must have a winning percentage of at least .500, playing a minimum of three matches in a particular flight, whether it be as singles, or doubles. Within sectionals are “draws,” which separate the players into first, second, and third singles, and first and second doubles. The better you do in your individual match the more points you get as a team. The team with the most points at the end of the tournament becomes the sectional champions. For the second year in a row the J-DHS Varsity Boys Tennis team won the crown in Section III. “Amazing,” said Coach Eugene Sul of the boys’ run this season.
For some, the season didn’t end there. Technically, Davis, Dotterer, Della Posta, Nazem and Procopio, and Raina and Bono all qualified, though only Davis and Dotterer competed in the state qualifiers. In order to compete in state qualifiers you must do well in sectionals, which determines who you end up playing.
For the first time since 2008, J-DHS has had someone qualify to compete in the State Tournament during State Qualifiers. Extra twist? Two team members, Davis and Dotterer, qualified to continue on to play in states. “I was excited,” said Davis, “It had been my goal since sophomore year so I was pretty pumped.”
The state tournament was the weekend of May 30 and 31. Although team members had high hopes for both Davis and Dotterer, they were also realistic. “(Davis’ll) get pretty far,” said Della Posta, “but he won’t win.” “It’s tough to say,” said Procopio of Dotterer, “He’s only in eighth grade.”
Both Dotterer and Davis lost during the first round of the main draw. Each then continued on to play in a consolation match, to see where they placed overall. “Abe lost his match in the consolation draw but Robbie was able to win a match in the consolation draw before bowing out,” said Coach Sul.
Although Davis and Dotterer did not win the tournament, they still have things to look forward to. Davis is heading to Oberlin College in Ohio in the fall to play tennis. “He projects out to being one of the starters on the team,” said Coach Sul, “(he) should be successful.” Because Dotterer is only an eighth grader he still has time to improve over the next few years. “He will anchor the top of our lineup and hopefully lead us to a seventh consecutive league championship,” said Coach Sul.