Boys Tennis Season Preview

The past few seasons have been pretty successful for the boys tennis team at . With second places in the PAC-10 to Methacton two years in a row and district playoff appearances for the team, there was a lot to be excited about. The school has only made districts as a team three times in the history of the boys tennis program. They went 10-5 overall and 7-1 in the league.

Head coach John Brennan is now in his eighth year coaching. He's a 1997 Spring-Ford graduate, and played golf, basketball and tennis while in school. He also assists on the boys basketball coaching staff currently.

The now-senior Tyler Triolo is a two-time PAC-10 Champion in singles play and earned a doubles championship with Blake Emerson, who graduated last year. Emerson played doubles in the regular season with junior Joey Graziadei, who plays second singles this year. Blake's brother Kyle [Emerson] and Louis Cooper performed to the level of Second Team All-League, and finished third in the PAC-10 doubles tournament. Both graduated. The youngest Emerson, Luke, plays fourth doubles this year.

Gary Williams, Austin Galaska (now plays golf at Messiah College) and Mike Powers were also impact graduates.

"The biggest issue is we graduated nine of our 11 starting players last year," said Brennan. "That's a lot of new faces. We're trial by fire right now. These guys were playing second, third, fourth junior varsity last year and now they're playing doubles for us this year."

The team had its ups and downs in 2011, with a huge win over a tough Phoenixville program (4-3) in what Brennan remarked could have been the best match in PAC-10 history, to a tough loss to Methacton, which in essence lost the Rams the PAC-10 team title.

"The past couple of seasons were great," Brennan said. "We basically had the same lineup for a few years. They were really easy to coach and we didn't have to employ a lot of strategy. This year, we're going back to basics the way we taught the other guys when they were in ninth and 10th grade. We've been saying for these kids, 'Hey, we miss these guys, but it's our time now.' It's this group's time to come up again and start all over fresh."

Triolo is the hands-down leader of the team, which the Rams will need with a competitive non-league schedule. The boys will play seven opponents who qualified for the AAA or AA district playoffs last year, including Phoenixville, Bayard Rustin, Pennsbury, Council Rock North, Downingtown East, Methacton and Radnor.

"[Tyler's] a really good example for the kids," Brennan said. "They look up to him. He puts a lot of time in the offseason on his tennis game. The other kids need to see that if they want to improve their games, they need to put some time in."

Graziadei has also been an integral leader in practice, according to Brennan. Promising youngsters include freshman third singles player Ryan Schweitzer, and third doubles freshman Raghav "Rocco" Jain.

The Rams will host their second annual invitational, hosting Manheim Central, Downingtown East and Upper Merion. They'll play a total of 16 matches on the schedule.

Overall, Brennan hopes to see a good season out of his Rams, despite the big graduation last year.

"I want us to be competitive still," Brennan said. "I don't want some sort of massive drop off from where we were playing. I know we had a lot graduate last year, but with the guys coming out and working hard like they have, I see us being competitive in the PAC-10. I want us to be one of the best AAA schools in the league."

Boys Tennis 2012 Schedule

• 3/16 - vs. Christopher Dock (5-2 win)
• 3/21 - @ Pennridge (3-4 loss)
• 3/22 - vs. Phoenixville
• 3/23 - @ Bayard Rustin
• 3/26 - @ Pennsbury
• 3/27 - @ Pottsgrove
• 3/30 - vs. Council Rock North
• 3/31 - Spring-Ford Invitational
• 4/2 - @ Perkiomen Valley
• 4/3 - vs. Pope John Paul II
• 4/11 - @ Upper Perkiomen
• 4/12 - vs. Owen J. Roberts
• 4/16 - @ Methacton
• 4/17 - vs. Radnor
• 4/18 - vs. Boyertown
• 4/20 - PAC-10 Singles @ Perkiomen Valley
• 4/21 - PAC-10 Singles @ Perkiomen Valley
• 4/27 - District Singles
• 4/28 - District Singles
• 5/3 - PAC-10 Doubles @ Perkiomen Valley
• 5/4 - PAC-10 Doubles @ Perkiomen Valley
• 5/7 - District I Team Tournament
• 5/11 - District Doubles
• 5/12 - District Doubles