Singles stands out in second SLC victory
By Mike Ramczyk
In terms of team record, it hasn’t always been positive this season for the Burlington boys tennis squad.
Going into last week, the boys had only mustered one match victory.
But thanks to a clean sweep from their doubles players and the continued dominance of junior Jacob Ludwig, Burlington achieved its first Southern Lakes Conference victory of the season April 20 at home – and followed it with another conference win Tuesday.
Head coach Ken Savaglia said the guys were just happy to get a victory, which came in a close 4-3 decision over Wilmot.
“It is fun to get a win,” he said. “Our doubles sweep led the way.”
While the No. 1 doubles team of Andrew Zeman and Malik Tiedt (6-1, 6-2) and No. 2 doubles tandem of Chandler Spiewak and Declan Kipp (7-5, 6-1) handled their opponents in straight sets, the No. 3 duo of Ben Zott and Travis Ellertson were involved in a tightly-contested affair.
Zott and Ellertson dropped their first set, 6-3, to Ben Labicki and Kevin Kummerow, but stormed back to take the second set, 6-4.
By the third set, Zott and Ellertson cruised with a score of 6-1.
Ludwig improved to 8-0 on the season with a 6-0, 6-0 throttling of Kalyn Coose.
The southpaw has been impressive after a busy offseason of weight training and competition against some of the best players in the state.
“Jacob is playing great at 1 singles,” Savaglia said.
Ludwig dropped his first match of the season Monday against Whitnall.
At 2 singles, Johnny Puntillo gave Alex Tenhagen a run for his money, falling 6-3 in the first set before battling to a 7-6 (5) tiebreaker.
At No. 4 singles, Burlington’s Timo Tschernoster also battled in the first set before falling, 7-6 (3), in a tiebreaker. He lost 6-0 in the second set.
At No. 3 singles, Quinn Adamek fell to Nolan Souders, 6-4, 6-4.
On Tuesday, Burlington crushed host Delavan, 7-0.
Ludwig, Puntillo, Adamek and Tschernoster all won in straight sets at singles.
“They were fun matches to watch,” Savaglia said.
At No. 1 doubles, Tiedt and Zeman won, 6-0, 7-6 (4), and Spiewak and Kipp and Ellertson and Zott each needed three sets to win after losing their first sets.
“We bounced back from our 7-0 loss last night,” Savaglia said.
Burlington is 4-7 overall and 2-3 in the SLC.
Burlington returns to action Monday against Kenosha Tremper.
Whitnall 7, Burlington 0
On Monday at Whitnall, the Demons were flat-out dominated in nonconference action.
“We got taken to the woodshed,” Savaglia said. “We came out lethargic across the board and could not get going. It was a bad night overall, and Whitnall is too good to give them an inch.”
Previously unbeaten Ludwig lost, 6-3, 6-0, for his first defeat of the season (9-1).
At No. 1 doubles, Zeman and Tiedt lost in three sets, 6-2, 7-6 (6), 10-2.
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