Pioneers Are Ready to Defend Group 1 Tennis Title

With a veteran squad of five seniors and six juniors, the New Providence High School boys’ tennis team enters this season with high expectations and hopes of repeating as the Group 1 Champions.

Last year, New Providence was the top seed in the North 2, Group 1 sectional tournament, and defeated Jonathan Dayton and Whippany Park high schools to earn the title. After winning consecutive matches against Verona and Pitman to earn the group title, the Pioneers went to the Tournament of Champions. As the sixth seed, they challenged third seeded Dwight Engelwood High School in the quarterfinal before ultimately losing 3-2. Dwight Engelwood was the Non-Public North B Group Champion.

"The best school in each group goes to the Tournament of Champions and it’s very prestigious," New Providence head coach John Delloiacono said. "We would love to go another round in the tournament, but just getting there is a great accomplishment for our school."

One the pioneers’ five seniors is Javier Sanchez, who will play 1st singles and consequently face some of the toughest competition.

"Javier will always go against the top players and have the most difficult matches," Delloiacono said.

Senior Bobby Libera is assigned to 2nd singles, and junior Rick VanKimmenaede is New Providence’s 3rd singles player. Both were key to the team's Group 1 championship last season, and Delloiacono expects more great things from them this year.

"Bobby is probably the most competitive player on the team," he said. "Rick went 18-5 last year and was undefeated in the group tournament."

Meanwhile, senior Tony Therattil and junior Mike Herrigel will play 1st doubles. The 2nd doubles team is another junior-senior combination with Seth Keller (junior) and Adam Sann (senior).

Also integral to the 2011 Pioneers are freshmen Alex Hocken and Kevin Meluso. They will play together as a 3rd doubles team, and Hocken will also be 4th singles. Although Delloiacono plans to use them strictly as practice players, he knows Hocken and Meluso will push the starters to be better.

"Having them around in practice keeps pressure on the veterans," Delloiacono said.

With talented upperclassmen and promising young newcomers, New Providence’s best strength is its depth.

"Our depth will really show in individual match ups, because the talent level is there for all of our spots," Delloiacono said. "There is not much of a difference in talent between 1st and 2nd singles or 1st and 2nd doubles."

The pioneers faces a difficult schedule with matches against large Group 4 schools, including J.P. Stevens and the Westfield High School Blue Devils, the sectional champion.

"J.P. Stevens has a strong program, and Westfield is always tough," Delloiacono said. "I try to pick schools we can compete with, but won’t always beat. It’s more valuable to lose a tough match than win an easy one."

New Providence played three scrimmages in late March, and the regular season begins today at 4 p.m. with the home opener against Westfield. The first match was originally scheduled for Friday, April 1 against Jonathan Dayton High School, but was postponed due to the weather.

"I have lofty expectations as always, but we will have many tough, close matches," Delloiacono said.

TEAM ROSTER:

Tony Therattil, Senior

Adam Sann, Senior

Javier Sanchez, Senior

Viraj Mehta, Senior

Bobby Libera, Senior

Dan Friedman, Junior

Mike Herrigel, Junior

Seth Keller, Junior

Devind Kullar, Junior

Alec Provan, Junior

Rick VanKimmenaede, Junior

Alex Hocken, Freshman

Kevin Meluso, Freshman