Boys Tennis: Knights take on Oakdale and question marks looming over season

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

                       

There is only one sport in the state of Maryland at the high school level that does not award a team state championship. Without even knowing what sport it was, one could assume that how teams across the state prepare for the season and the playoffs would be a little bit unusual.

And for tennis, the very sport that doesn’t award a team state championship, it would be a correct assumption that the preparations for games and the playoffs are a bit unorthodox compared to other sports.

Because, there is no team championship then the goal becomes trying to get the strongest individuals on the team to advance the farthest into the state tournament process as they can go.

The unorthodox process will begin though immediately as the Middletown High School Knights Boys Tennis team will search for answers when they play the Oakdale High School Bears at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 23^rd.

There isn’t going to be any coaching favoring the strongest players but it is a necessity over the course of the season to get the best players on the team in a position to make a run deep into playoffs.

Also, because one of the five state events (mixed doubles) is a combination of a member on the boys tennis team and a member of the girls tennis team, the planning on how to handle the strongest players and what events to put them in when it comes playoff time can be a tough decision.

The Boys Tennis team comes into this season with the shrouds of uncertainty looming large over the fortunes of their season as the team has come into this season with lots of question marks.

The biggest question mark is how the boys tennis team will adapt after losing two of their best players from last year.

Former Knights Taiki Haugen and Alex Stutzman were a formidable combination for Middletown when the two were placed together as either the #1 and #2 singles or as the #1 single (Haugen) and a part of the #1 doubles pairing (Stutzman).

This left Middletown with a strong upper level of tennis players and allowed the Knights to win a large number of games last year as Haugen and Stutzman would help propel the Knights to victories at the more competitive tiers while the underclassmen and newcomers would be able to squeak out wins at the bottom.

But Haugen and Stutzman are gone now and by attending the Knights’ practices it is evident that this new cast of characters will need to step up in a big way if the Knights are to make progress and win games this year.

The team while not a young team isn’t a team with a lot of experience either, as Middletown only carries one senior but has a host of juniors in their ranks as seven 11^th graders will take the courts for the Knights at some point during the year.

Even though the Knights have a large amount of juniors the kick with that is that not a lot of those juniors have seen a large amount of playing time with the majority, having joined the team this year or playing a minimal position on the team last year.

Out of the seven juniors on the team only three have played tennis at the high school level in previous years. Then when observing those three players; Isaac Hoehn, Eric Stutzman, and Will Tuten, only Tuten and Hoehn saw a significant amount of playing time last year as Tuten saw his time evenly split between being the #1 spot in the 2^nd doubles pairing or the 4^th single spot. Hoehn, on the other hand, would either occupy the #2 spot in the 1^st doubles pairing, the 2^nd singles spot, or the 3^rd singles spot.

The Knights will need big performances from the duo of Hoehn and Tuten if they are to win games during the regular season. If Hoehn and Tuten can play well, they will spur whatever spot they play in towards a victory and allow the lower players the ability to relax and win just one more match to get the victory as a team.

If Hoehn and Tuten struggle it will force the lower players on the Knights to win games, putting them in high pressure situations that most of them may not be accustomed to yet.

The other big change for Middletown is in the coaching department. Former Middletown head coach Michael Daw would resign during the offseason with Kathy Nickey coming in and taking the role.

Any new coach causes an adjustment in how the players handle the new coaching style but it is not known if Nickey will bring in a new coaching style for the Knights or if it will resemble the similarities of the style that the departed Daw used.

Middletown will start off their season with the aforementioned Bears and it could be a measuring stick game for the Knights as, like the Knights, Oakdale has been one of the top programs in the county in past years and will look to continue that dominance into this current season.

Oakdale has also had enough quality in their program to have a couple players on each of the past two teams make a run deep into the region tournaments and get very close to getting a state tournament berth.

Middletown will be ready to start their season as the sooner they start against the Bears the sooner they are to clearing up the question marks that hang over their season.