Boys Tennis preview

(Four of E-town's top five players are, from left, Peter Davis, Colton Brown, Mike Sweigart and Drew Winey.)

*Note: You can find all of these previews in this week's issue of the Chronicle.

Head Coach: Chip Diem, first season.

2007 Record: 10-2 overall.

Key Returners: Alex Trimble, sophomore; Colton Brown, senior; Mike Sweigart, senior.
E-town returns three talented, experienced players in Trimble, Brown and Sweigart.
Trimble is probably the team’s No. 1 player. As a freshman last year, he teamed with Sweigart to advance to the finals of the Lancaster-Lebanon League Flight Two doubles tournament. He also made it to the semifinals of Flight Two singles.
Sweigart will likely play third singles for the Bears. In the L-L Flight Tournament last season, Sweigart made the semifinals of Flight Four in addition to making the Flight Two doubles finals with Trimble.
Brown looks primed for a big season. He will play either No. 1 or No. 2 singles for the Bears and has the experience to have a successful season. He played Flight One singles in last year’s L-L tournament, going 3-2 and falling in the fifth place match. In doubles, he teamed with Shawn Newlin to advance to the semifinals of leagues and qualify for districts.
With a top three like this, E-town will look to continue its recent string of successful regular season.

Key Newcomers: Drew Winey, senior; Peter Davis, senior.
With more than half of the top five returning from last year, E-town will be relying on Winey and Davis to round out its top five.
Both are athletic players certainly capable of winning some matches, but do not have the varsity experience necessary yet to compete with the upper-echelon players in the league. But the Bears don’t need them to beat those types of players, and as fourth or fifth singles players, they will certainly hold their own and contribute to match wins for E-town.

Key Losses: Shawn Newlin; Dan Nguyen; Alex Herr.
The loss of Newlin will be felt the most for the Bears. He was one of the team’s best players for the past three years and E-town’s No. 1 singles player a year ago.
Nguyen and Herr also contributed at the varsity level and added depth to the lineup.

What they do well: Go deep.
It’s not often that a team loses its No. 1 player from the previous season, but still has an extremely strong and deep team coming back. The Bears return three of last year’s top five and have a plethora of athletic players waiting in the wings if they are needed to step in and contribute.
That depth should help the Bears, who have lost only four matches combined in the past two seasons.

What they need to work on: Building the tradition.
Quietly, the Elizabethtown boys tennis program has become an extremely successful one. They are a combined 19-4 over the past two seasons and continue to churn out quality players who get better as underclassmen and step up and dominate as seniors.
But E-town has to learn that it belongs with the Manheim Townships of the league. They have to play with that kind of confidence.

Outlook: Things look promising for the Bears again this season. They return a solid nucleus of players and also have some potentially outstanding newcomers. Watch for E-town to challenge for the Section Two title.
In singles play, they will be led by Trimble, Brown and Sweigart which may be as potent of a top three as you will find in the section. All three advanced deep into the L-L tournament last season and will likely find themselves there again. Don’t be surprised if more than one of them finds themselves in the district tournament as well.
Trimble has already experienced success at the varsity level and is only a sophomore, so he will be at the top of E-town’s lineup for the next three seasons.
With the experience and talent that E-town has on the roster and a young, energetic coach like Diem to put it all together, E-town could be looking at anywhere from eight to 10 regular season wins and quite a few players advancing deep in the L-L Flight Tournament in late April.