Tennis team making strides

by Eric Keppeler
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, May 19, 2007

At the start of the 2007 season, the Lewiston-Porter boys tennis team had set the modest goal of winning one match – which was one more than they had won in the previous seven years combined.

The Lancers have already doubled that, and they may not be finished yet. Lew-Port swept the season series from Niagara Frontier League Kenmore East for two victories, and Lancers head coach Mike Townsend thinks the team has a fair shot at a third victory when Lew-Port meets North Tonawanda, probably on Wednesday in a make-up game after a postponement last week.

North Tonawanda beat Lew-Port 3-2 in an earlier meeting, but the Lancers were without a pair of regular starters. Townsend thinks they can make a difference and maybe give the Lancers a third victory this season, which would be huge for a rebuilding program like Lew-Port that had been in such a drought.

“The wins are extremely important,” Townsend said. “The players have some pride, and they talk about not being the doormats of the league any longer. I’m very happy with the growth I’ve seen this year.”

That growth is also reflected in the NFL Doubles Tournament at Grand Island, which was moved up to yesterday from today. The Lancer tandem of junior co-captain Tom Matikainen and freshman Trevor Moran is seeded seventh in the 10-team field, which is the highest a Lew-Port doubles team has been ranked in years.

The Lancers sit at 2-10 in the league and finish out the regular season against Niagara Falls on Monday and then against North Tonawanda. Even the 10 losses have been better than in years past because the Lancers were in just about every match.

“We were very competitive with most of the other teams,” Townsend said. “I didn’t anticipate beating some of them, but we weren’t blown out. And our attitude was superb – we played like winners.”

In particular, Matikainen and Moran have had good success at first doubles, going 4-3 in the seven matches they played together. Sophomore Brandon Piva also has been solid at third singles, going 4-4.

All this has come without the services of the team’s captain and probably its most skilled player, senior Marty Krimmel. A foreign exchange student from Germany in his second year at Lew-Port, Krimmel’s bid for a second season of eligibility was finally denied about a week ago.

But Krimmel has played in exhibition matches and helped out his teammates any way possible.

“Marty was disappointed, but he took it well,” Townsend said. “He continues to assist us however he can. In practice he plays against our other players to give them a challenge. Then before the matches, the kids like to warm up with Marty because it really helps to get them ready.”

Besides Krimmel, the Lancers will lose seniors Chris Aiello and Dave Holfoth – but everybody else will be back.

And they want to build on this year’s successes.

“The kids are already talking about next year,” Townsend said.