Published: September 28, 2008 12:42 am         

Minutemen capture team NLC tennis crown

Concord won titles at two positions on its way to a first-place finish in the Northern Lakes Conference high school boys tennis tournament Saturday at Wawasee in Syracuse.

Junior Andre Moore was a 6-1, 7-5 winner over Northridge junior Dylan Pieri at No. 3 singles while senior Jordan Hershberger and junior Michael Ciesielski were 6-2, 6-1 winners over Richard Feng and Ethan Guy of Warsaw at No. 2 doubles.

“Moore, Hershberger and Ciesielski all played good,” first-year Concord coach Todd Denton said. “All the guys on the team did well. We played very patiently, which is something we have been working on. Trying to outlast our opponent is what we want. We don’t want to be going for the big shot all the time.”

Combined with the regular season results Concord is the overall champion with 16 team points, followed by Plymouth 14, Northridge 12, Warsaw 10, NorthWood 8, Goshen 6, Wawasee 4 and Elkhart Memorial 2.

Goshen’s No. 1 doubles team of senior team co-captains Mac Hussey and Ryan Wengerd were 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 winners over Tim Gordon and Caleb Hadden of Plymouth in the finale.

The Plymouth duo was a 6-4, 7-6 winner during the regular season.

“I’m so happy for Mac and Ryan,” Goshen coach Scott Miller said. “They have worked so hard the last four years. They went out today and put everything on the line. It’s nice to see them get some recognition.

“Plymouth took control of the match during the season and finished things off. We were a little worried about that after they won the first set today when we had been ahead.

“The Plymouth team is a solid one. I think it helped us that we had a quicker match this morning (6-4, 6-0 over Concord (senior Trevor Dumont and junior Matt Schoeffler) while Plymouth had a three-setter (6-7, 6-1, 7-5 over senior Blake Luken and junior James Brandenberger) Northridge.”

Also for Goshen, junior Andy Van Klavern placed sixth at No. 1 singles, sophomore Stefan Baumgartner seventh at No. 2 singles, freshman Seth Koble fifth at No. 3 singles, sophomore Johnny Tan and freshman Collin Erickson fifth at No. 2 doubles.

“Overall, I was pleased,” Miller said. “Our No. 2 doubles came back and won in the third set. Van Klavern played a good match against (Northridge senior) Jeff George. We played within ourselves and all of the guys put it on the line.”

Also for Concord, junior Andre Ziebold was fourth at No. 1 singles, junior Jared Queener third at No. 2 singles, Dumont and Schoeffler third at No. 1 doubles.

“Other than the birth of my children winning the NLC is probably the greatest feeling of my life,” said Denton who was named ‘Coach of the Year’ by his peers. “The players are the ones who have been doing all the hard work. I just put them out on the courts.”

Northridge sophomore Nick Myers was a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Andy Langdon of Plymouth in the championship match at No. 2 singles.

“Myers is a great player who can do it all,” Northridge coach Doug Gossman said. “He can stay back or come to the net. He has the awesome potential to be an even better player.”

All first-place finishers are automatic selections to the all-NLC squad.

At-large selections, as voted by the coaches, are Ziebold of Concord, senior Preston Swain of NorthWood and Calvin Hoeffler of Plymouth. Honorable mention went to George of Northridge, Dumont and Schoeffler of Concord.