| Varsity Spring 2009 Weekly Update May 30th |
This week, our Marquette University High School Tennis Team competed at Sectionals to qualify for the WIAA State
Tournament. Subsectionals were held at the Helfaer Center on Tuesday to conduct the first rounds of play and
Sectionals were held at Nicolet on Thursday to conclude the qualifying competition. We have one of the toughest
Sectionals with both Nicolet (8th Ranked) and Whitefish Bay (4th Ranked) battling for the opportunity to advance to
Team State as well. No other Sectional has three of the top ten teams in the state vying for this position.
Brett Felzien represented MUHS at #4 Singles and played extremely well. He won his match on Tuesday 6-0, 6-0 and
carried that momentum into Thursday to begin by facing Nicolet’s Brendan Barter. Brett went up in the first set, but
his opponent came up with some very good shots and great saves. At this point, Brett did not alter his game plan,
but actually implemented it further and kept attacking. The change that Brett made was to come in on better shots
and actually focus on approaching to his opponent’s stronger side to open the court for his volley to the backhand
corner. This strategy worked throughout the match and Brett was able to roll in the second set winning, 7-5, 6-1. In
the finals, Brett faced a new opponent, Whitefish Bay’s Eli Hayes. Brett kept attacking the backhand of his opponent
and was able to wear him down 6-2, 6-4. Brett’s serve was potent after the move indoors and we will be looking
forward to seeing more of that in two weeks.
Tim Noack lost only three games in winning his #3 Singles spot at Sectionals. In the final, he played Ben Foran from
Whitefish Bay. I believe that Tim was up 2-1, when we were delayed due to rain at Nicolet and decided to move
indoors to North Shore Elite. Tim promptly went up 4-1 and lost only one more game en route to his 6-2, 6-0 victory.
Tim has played consistently well all season long and we are looking forward to a great state tournament out of Tim.
Nelson Vick had a tough final versus Sam Lillie of Whitefish Bay. Nelson battled through the first set and broke his
opponent’s serve at opportune times including to win the set, 6-2. The second set was much closer as each player
held serve throughout even though each game was close with both competitors playing at a very high level. Nelson
lost the first point of the tiebreak on his serve, but was able to get the mini-break back right away to let his opponent
know that this would not be his day. Nelson played a solid remainder of the tiebreak, outrallying his opponent and
finally forced him to crack at the end in order to win the close tiebreaker 7-5.
Billy Bertha was efficient in his matches at #1 Singles defeating David Yarmulnik 6-1, 6-1 and Jack Larsen 6-2, 6-3 in
the semifinals and finals respectively. Jack earned the 4th seed for Individual State, so this was an exceptional score
against a very good player. Billy was able to play this match back outside at Nicolet and unfortunately, most of our
team was still inside at North Shore for this match and we were unable to cheer him on. We look forward to having
that opportunity over the next two weeks.
In spite of injuries and illnesses, Mac Mulcahy and Jack Porritt played well at #3 Doubles. They won their semifinal
match against Whitefish Bay 6-1, 6-1 and carried that momentum into the finals versus Nicolet to take a 6-3, 4-0
lead. At this point, Nicolet was able to play with nothing to lose and their shots started to go in. We contributed to the
turning point also, by not hitting our returns or first serves in to force our opponents to win the points. Once the
momentum shifted, we were not able to stop it until the break in between the second and third set. Mac and Jack
were able to regain their focus and play their usual dominating game in the third set winning 6-1.
Joe Sladky and Ben Robey competed at #2 Doubles and were able to overcome some uncharacteristic errors to win
their flight; 6-2, 6-2 over Whitefish Bay and 6-2, 6-3 over Nicolet. Ben and Joe played better as they day progressed
and were the first team to win their championship match and supported their team to victory the rest of the day.
Finally, Alex Sykes and Ethan Niquet played very well throughout the day and lost only eight games in winning their
#1 Doubles Flight. In the finals, Alex and Ethan played a new team for Nicolet and they did not allow their opponents
to get into any rhythm by constantly pressing and aggressively putting balls away. Nicolet tried to lob Alex and Ethan,
and it worked for two points, but overall Alex and Ethan had at least a dozen overhead winners and controlled play
throughout their 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Our coaching staff is very proud of our team for winning each of the flights and advancing to Team State with the
maximum 56 points. Middleton was the only other team in the state to accomplish this feat and they did not have any
other top ten team in their sectional. This is the first time that we have swept the Sectional, although we were close in
2003 and 2004, being one match shy. Going for the Team State Title is our Team’s main goal for the season and we
will be preparing over the next two weeks to be as prepared as possible to accomplish this goal.
Next weekend, however, is the Individual State Tournament and our team was fortunate to qualify more individuals
than any other team in the state. On top of qualifying three of our singles players and our three doubles teams, we
earned top seeds for everyone that qualified. Billy Bertha and Nelson Vick received the top two seeds for the second
year in a row with their 22-0 and 13-0 records, respectively. At 25-1, Tim Noack earned an alphabetical seed (12th)
and a pretty good draw. In Doubles, Ethan Niquet and Alex Sykes are the 3rd seeds and will have a few tough
matches in their section of the draw. The Doubles teams of Ben Robey/Joe Sladky and Mac Mulcahy/Jack Porritt
each earned alphabetical seeds (11th and 12th) to ensure that they are not going to run into each other. Each pair
actually has a good draw with some intriguing matchups. Ben and Joe, assuming that they win two matches, will get
the opportunity to get revenge over the Middleton team that has defeated them twice, while Mac and Jack, assuming
they win twice, will get a chance to face Brookfield Central’s #1 Doubles Team and have a great opportunity to go into
a match with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Here is the link where you can follow the progress of the team during the state tournaments and view the updated
draws with the most current results: http://www.wiaawi.org/index.php?id=400.
Have a great rest of the weekend and Congratulations to the 2009 MUHS Tennis Team for advancing to the Team
State Tournament!
David R. Frank
Tournament. Subsectionals were held at the Helfaer Center on Tuesday to conduct the first rounds of play and
Sectionals were held at Nicolet on Thursday to conclude the qualifying competition. We have one of the toughest
Sectionals with both Nicolet (8th Ranked) and Whitefish Bay (4th Ranked) battling for the opportunity to advance to
Team State as well. No other Sectional has three of the top ten teams in the state vying for this position.
Brett Felzien represented MUHS at #4 Singles and played extremely well. He won his match on Tuesday 6-0, 6-0 and
carried that momentum into Thursday to begin by facing Nicolet’s Brendan Barter. Brett went up in the first set, but
his opponent came up with some very good shots and great saves. At this point, Brett did not alter his game plan,
but actually implemented it further and kept attacking. The change that Brett made was to come in on better shots
and actually focus on approaching to his opponent’s stronger side to open the court for his volley to the backhand
corner. This strategy worked throughout the match and Brett was able to roll in the second set winning, 7-5, 6-1. In
the finals, Brett faced a new opponent, Whitefish Bay’s Eli Hayes. Brett kept attacking the backhand of his opponent
and was able to wear him down 6-2, 6-4. Brett’s serve was potent after the move indoors and we will be looking
forward to seeing more of that in two weeks.
Tim Noack lost only three games in winning his #3 Singles spot at Sectionals. In the final, he played Ben Foran from
Whitefish Bay. I believe that Tim was up 2-1, when we were delayed due to rain at Nicolet and decided to move
indoors to North Shore Elite. Tim promptly went up 4-1 and lost only one more game en route to his 6-2, 6-0 victory.
Tim has played consistently well all season long and we are looking forward to a great state tournament out of Tim.
Nelson Vick had a tough final versus Sam Lillie of Whitefish Bay. Nelson battled through the first set and broke his
opponent’s serve at opportune times including to win the set, 6-2. The second set was much closer as each player
held serve throughout even though each game was close with both competitors playing at a very high level. Nelson
lost the first point of the tiebreak on his serve, but was able to get the mini-break back right away to let his opponent
know that this would not be his day. Nelson played a solid remainder of the tiebreak, outrallying his opponent and
finally forced him to crack at the end in order to win the close tiebreaker 7-5.
Billy Bertha was efficient in his matches at #1 Singles defeating David Yarmulnik 6-1, 6-1 and Jack Larsen 6-2, 6-3 in
the semifinals and finals respectively. Jack earned the 4th seed for Individual State, so this was an exceptional score
against a very good player. Billy was able to play this match back outside at Nicolet and unfortunately, most of our
team was still inside at North Shore for this match and we were unable to cheer him on. We look forward to having
that opportunity over the next two weeks.
In spite of injuries and illnesses, Mac Mulcahy and Jack Porritt played well at #3 Doubles. They won their semifinal
match against Whitefish Bay 6-1, 6-1 and carried that momentum into the finals versus Nicolet to take a 6-3, 4-0
lead. At this point, Nicolet was able to play with nothing to lose and their shots started to go in. We contributed to the
turning point also, by not hitting our returns or first serves in to force our opponents to win the points. Once the
momentum shifted, we were not able to stop it until the break in between the second and third set. Mac and Jack
were able to regain their focus and play their usual dominating game in the third set winning 6-1.
Joe Sladky and Ben Robey competed at #2 Doubles and were able to overcome some uncharacteristic errors to win
their flight; 6-2, 6-2 over Whitefish Bay and 6-2, 6-3 over Nicolet. Ben and Joe played better as they day progressed
and were the first team to win their championship match and supported their team to victory the rest of the day.
Finally, Alex Sykes and Ethan Niquet played very well throughout the day and lost only eight games in winning their
#1 Doubles Flight. In the finals, Alex and Ethan played a new team for Nicolet and they did not allow their opponents
to get into any rhythm by constantly pressing and aggressively putting balls away. Nicolet tried to lob Alex and Ethan,
and it worked for two points, but overall Alex and Ethan had at least a dozen overhead winners and controlled play
throughout their 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Our coaching staff is very proud of our team for winning each of the flights and advancing to Team State with the
maximum 56 points. Middleton was the only other team in the state to accomplish this feat and they did not have any
other top ten team in their sectional. This is the first time that we have swept the Sectional, although we were close in
2003 and 2004, being one match shy. Going for the Team State Title is our Team’s main goal for the season and we
will be preparing over the next two weeks to be as prepared as possible to accomplish this goal.
Next weekend, however, is the Individual State Tournament and our team was fortunate to qualify more individuals
than any other team in the state. On top of qualifying three of our singles players and our three doubles teams, we
earned top seeds for everyone that qualified. Billy Bertha and Nelson Vick received the top two seeds for the second
year in a row with their 22-0 and 13-0 records, respectively. At 25-1, Tim Noack earned an alphabetical seed (12th)
and a pretty good draw. In Doubles, Ethan Niquet and Alex Sykes are the 3rd seeds and will have a few tough
matches in their section of the draw. The Doubles teams of Ben Robey/Joe Sladky and Mac Mulcahy/Jack Porritt
each earned alphabetical seeds (11th and 12th) to ensure that they are not going to run into each other. Each pair
actually has a good draw with some intriguing matchups. Ben and Joe, assuming that they win two matches, will get
the opportunity to get revenge over the Middleton team that has defeated them twice, while Mac and Jack, assuming
they win twice, will get a chance to face Brookfield Central’s #1 Doubles Team and have a great opportunity to go into
a match with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Here is the link where you can follow the progress of the team during the state tournaments and view the updated
draws with the most current results: http://www.wiaawi.org/index.php?id=400.
Have a great rest of the weekend and Congratulations to the 2009 MUHS Tennis Team for advancing to the Team
State Tournament!
David R. Frank