Westport Whalers Tennis Team Advances To New England Sectionals

The Westport Whalers, a men's 4.0 tennis team that plays out of the Kings Highway Tennis Club in Darien, recently advanced to the New England sectional playoffs for the first time.

The Whalers are one of the original teams that joined United States Tennis Association team tennis 30 years ago.

The Whalers pulled out a 3-2 victory over a strong Simsbury squad in the Connecticut district championships final to complete the event with a 4-0 record at the East Hartford Racquet Club.

The key to the Whalers' success was their doubles teams combining for a 10-2 record in which they won seven out of eight tiebreakers.

Doug Presley of Westport is the team captain. The other Whalers who contributed to the district title were Nils Boenicke of Westport, Andy Frank and Jason Minoff of Norwalk, Charlie Zylstra and Jeff Seymour of Southport, Richi Narang, Rob Berkowitz and Tim Daley of Fairfield, Tom Heckel and Bruce McGuire of Darien,  Tim Trask of Trumbull and Rich Voris of Monroe.

The Whalers will play in the sectionals at Mt. Holyoke College in Holyoke, Massachusetts from August 27-29.