The season for Indian River varsity boys’ tennis team concluded with consecutive losses to Seaford and Smyrna (5-0 and 3-2, respectively) and ended with a 6-8 record. Despite that losing record, first-year Indians head coach Pat Cicala rated the season an A-plus.
Zach Kmetz, second-singles player, weathered wounds in stellar play but came up short in the end.And why not? Last year’s team went .500 (6-6) and graduated their top two singles players, in Fletcher Garrison and Zack Mitchell, along with Ed Smith, who had been Charlie Cole’s first-doubles partner. And very few of this year’s team had much – or in some cases, any – experience prior to this season.
Only seniors Cole, second-doubles player Jordan Marvel and sophomore Eric Linde had any prior experience. The rest were tennis neophytes, but they have come around and are playing competitive tennis. They should continue that trend at this weekend’s conference tournament at Sea Colony.
Second-singles player Zack Kmetz played what Seaford head coach Phil Burtelle called “the best tennis match I’ve ever seen” in a losing effort to Andrew Halter. By the end of the match, Kmetz had left everything out on the court – literally. On several occasions, Kmetz dove or slide to reach balls, but he was able to pop back up and continue the volley despite open wounds.
Kmetz won (12-10) the set, which took about an hour, then lost the next and had to go to a tiebreaker because: A) the match was taking so long, B) the light was starting to fade and C) the spectators were starting to get wind-burn from the howling northeast winds on May 7.
Kmetz and third-singles player Linde spent the better part of winter developing their skills after school, and the result was that each won five matches this season. Kmetz had never played the sport and Linde was an exhibition player the previous year, but both rose in the ranks after displaying an ability to keep the ball in play.
“Zack is a really good athlete, and he picked up the game really fast,” Linde said. “And on any given day he can beat anybody, because he keeps the ball in play. … That’s why he’s so consistent – because we’ve put in a lot of practice. We’d play every day after school from December to March, unless the weather was really bad.”
First-doubles team of fellow neophytes Chris Conover and Zack Izzo has also made great strides since picking up the sport this spring. Conover has been apart of seven doubles victories (and leads the team), and together they have won three of their last four doubles matches.
Ryan Bound and Connor Hastings (4-3) have thrived as second-doubles partners.
Cole (6-8) has had significant tournament experience, playing with Smith last year, but has since shifted gears and now plays first-singles.
And, though the Indians lost their final two matches to Seaford and Smyrna, Indian River is anxious to carry their play over to the tournament.
“If we just take out some unforced errors then we’ll do much better, “Conover said. “Seaford and Smyrna are two tough teams, and playing against them will only make us better and give us some confidence heading into the tournament.”
Seedings for the conference tournament were to be decided May 9 (after the Coastal Point’s press time) and are basically “a crap-shoot,” according to Cicala.
All of the best players from throughout the conference will be separated to ensure they don’t end up beating each other up, and the rest of the players will be seeded at random. But as well as the Indians are playing, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that any of one Cicala’s guys could knock off a player or team, or two.
“Every player out there has improved 600 percent,” exclaimed Cicala.
“And the way the tournament is set up, anybody could step up. There are only five or six players that really outclass the rest of the league. The rest of the players either have two years or three years’ experience – but they could have good day or a bad day. And with the way we play, there could definitely be some upsets in the tournament,” he added.
The conference tournament will begin at 1 p.m. Friday at the Sea Colony Tennis Club in Bethany Beach.