Yorkville Boys Tennis Improves to 12-1

The Yorkville boys tennis team continued its strong season with a 5-0 win against Sterling on Tuesday afternoon.

The Foxes improved to 12-1 on the season and remain undefeated in the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference.

"We've been doing real good in conference, and I think we've only lost one singles match so far," Yorkville coach Frank Yabsley said. "It's been a solid group all season."

Success is nothing new to this Yorkville team as the Foxes went 15-1 last year, and with a majority of its roster returning, players anticipated similar success again this spring.

"We were successful last year, so we expected it to continue," Yorkville junior Joe Gutzwiler said.

Gutzwiler has teamed up with Mike Ems as the No. 2 doubles team for the Foxes this season. They've been playing as a doubles team for almost two years now, and as they've gotten to know each other better on the court, their game has improved.

"We pick each other up and communicate really well," Ems said.

The regular conference lineup for the Foxes includes No. 1 singles player Brian Koski, No. 2 singles player Jon Moment, No. 1 doubles team Rick Hernandez and Jason Pickering, Gutzwiler and Ems, and No. 3 doubles team Zach Hames and Christian Hidalgo.

Seniors Taylor Hamilton, Brandon Barkauskas, Steve Schwebke and Austin Luettich and junior Nick Turnbull are also playing prominent roles for the Foxes.

"We have a really solid and deep team that's committed to playing this year," Yabsley said. "We've got more kids now playing club tennis than I've had in a long time."

The depth of the Foxes has really stood out as they are consistently winning from top to bottom and it's helped them dominate opponents.

"We have so much depth this year and everyone has been playing great," Moment said. "We've played well before but everyone seems to be playing a lot better now."

The Foxes are looking to not only win conference but finish an undefeated conference season. Then, they hope to have some players advance during the post-season state series.

"We're just trying to finish conference and win it for the first time," Yabsley said. "It would be great for these guys because they're just great kids who love the game."

Hamilton agrees.

"I think we can definitely win conference and hopefully get some guys to state," he said.

The Foxes will travel to Frankfort on Saturday to compete in the massive, 24-team, Lincoln-Way East Invite.The challenge and experience the long day of competition will bring to the Foxes is something that won't get during weekday afternoon conference matches.

"It's going to be a great experience for the kids seeing a lot of teams that they normally wouldn't see," Yabsley said. "It'll be a long day, about a 12-hour day of tennis."

The Foxes only loss this season came against South Elgin.