By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Entering his 18th season as head coach, Ken Savaglia would like to forget the nightmare that was last season.
Just two years removed from a second-place finish in the Southern Lakes Conference, the Demon boys tennis team was 3-8 overall and 2-5 in the SLC.
It was Savaglia’s worst finish of his coaching career.
To make matters worse, Burlington was moved to a tougher sectional, which made postseason advancement difficult.
This spring, Burlington only lost three key players to graduation, but the returning talent is virtually young across the board.
“We don’t have a lot of experience,” Savaglia said. “We had low numbers last year, but we are up to about 25 kids this season.”
The Demons will look to replace No. 1 singles player Connor Schultz, who won the SLC last season. Also, the No. 1 doubles team of Zack Gesteland and Kyle Crayton must be accounted for.
Savaglia said senior Jon Martin should take over at No. 1 singles, and juniors Dillon Kleitsch and Noah Ehlen will play No. 1 doubles.
Other key returners are senior Sam Skrundz (singles), sophomore Dominic James (singles) and sophomore Kyle Talley (doubles).
While Savaglia isn’t exactly certain of a lineup yet, he said the team will have 10 sophomores, four freshmen, five juniors and a few seniors.
The team’s first match is at home Thursday against Union Grove. Then, the Demons travel to a tournament at Oak Creek Saturday.
While Savaglia said it wasn’t a full-blown rebuilding year, he said it will be a transition year. For now, he simply wants to get guys experience. It may take a few years to return to title contention.
“We will rotate a lot of guys, and we want to build for the future,” Savaglia said. “We will be giving experience to a lot of guys that shouldn’t be playing varsity.”
Savaglia said several SLC schools have been hit hard by graduation from last year’s teams, so he said a .500 finish would be a reasonable goal.
He said Wilmot and Waterford should be contenders for the SLC crown.
“A .500 season would be successful,” Savaglia said. “We don’t have a lot of true tennis players, just guys who like to play tennis for fun. Early on, we want to establish a lineup and see where guys are at during competiton.”
Schedule
(HOME MEETS IN CAPS)
April – 10: UNION GROVE. 11-12: at Oak Creek Invite. 14: at East Troy. 15: ELKHORN. 17: at Waterford. 26: at Muskego Quad. 29: at Lake Geneva Badger. May – 1: DELAVAN-DARIEN. 3: Doubles Invite at Delavan. 8: at Wilmot. 12: WESTOSHA CENTRAL. 15: SLC meet at Delavan-Darien. 17: SLC meet at Delavan-Darien. 19: MUKWONAGO
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