Moraine Valley Men’s Tennis Ready For a Championship Repeat

The 2011 Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference champions nearly have their entire squad back from last year. With additional experience from a trip to the national tournament last spring, the Moraine Valley Community College men’s tennis team is expecting nothing short of a repeat in 2012.

All-Region IV and All-Conference players Mike Giordano (Oak Lawn), Josh Leininger (Lincoln-Way Central) and Dale Van Witzenberg (Shepard) are back along with sophomore Josh Rodig (Lincoln-Way Central) and the added force of newcomers Kevin Davenport (Lincoln-Way Central), Juan De La Parra (Colombia) and Nate Leininger (Lincoln-Way Central).

Coach Bill Finn expects brothers Nate and Josh Leininger to be the one and two singles players, respectively, followed by Giordano, Van Witzenberg, Rodig, with Davenport and De La Parra battling for the sixth spot. Although competition is anticipated to be fierce among other colleges in the region, Finn knows the Cyclones will have another good year.

 “We’re going to be good, and I know we’ll be competitive. We have four guys back who competed in nationals, so we’ll definitely be in the hunt for the conference championship and another trip to nationals,” Finn said. “We’ll be competitive though. You never know year to year how the other teams will be, and we’ll have challenges, but I expect we’ll be good.”