By Tim Wester
Sports Correspondent
Seemingly every high school athlete’s goal is to make it to a state championship.
But for Union Grove senior tennis player Nico Zeilinger, the importance of making state is a foreign concept.
Zeilinger is a foreign-exchange student from Germany who came to Union Grove last fall to study abroad. His decision to take up tennis after a four-year break was due more to his love of the sport than accomplishing a goal.
“I know every high school student in America has a dream of making state,” Zeilinger said. “But for me it wasn’t a dream of mine since I didn’t really understand what going to state meant.”
Zeilinger gave up tennis four years ago to focus on hand ball, which is a popular sport in Germany. Since there wasn’t a varsity handball team at Union Grove, Zeilinger decided to give tennis another try.
He informed classmate and friend CJ Maurer that he was trying out for the varsity tennis team.
Maurer, who had already had three doubles partners the past three varsity seasons, determined on the spot that Zeilinger was going to be his doubles partner this season.
“I had a class with him and he came up to me and said I hear you play tennis, I want to play tennis,” Maurer said. “I looked at him and said you’re going to be my doubles partner. And the very first day of practice he hit the ball hard and you could see he had a lot of ability, but just needed to shake off the rust.”
Maurer’s vision was shared with Bronco tennis coach Mike Brannen, who eventually slated the unlikely duo as his number one doubles team.
“If we don’t have Nico, the team would be set up totally different,” Brannen said. “And we’d probably have totally different results because he has made such a big difference. We are very happy to have Nico this year.”
Maurer and Zeilinger certainly haven’t disappointed, winning the Southern Lakes Conference title before cruising through regional and sectional playoffs, and then qualifying for the WIAA Division 1 state tournament in Madison.
The talented duo credits chemistry on and off the court as the main reason for success.
“Nico is athletic and is very tall and he kind of lets me do my thing of putting balls away at the net, while he enjoys hitting from the baseline,” Maurer said. “I back him up and he backs me up, and it’s a friendship we have on and off the court that has really made us strong. We have good chemistry and good communication.”
Zeilinger added: “CJ is just a really good player and is better than me and he carries me a lot at the net and the key is that we play as team. When one player gets down, the other is there to encourage him.”
Maurer, who has mostly played doubles the past three seasons, is making his first trip to state. His previous best finish came in his sophomore season as a sectional qualifier in doubles. Maurer, however, didn’t mesh with his other partners as well as he has with Zeilinger.
“It wouldn’t have been the same without Nico,” Maurer said. “We both like to joke around and are always having a good time and laughing and that’s when we our play our best tennis, when we are laughing and having a good time.”
The two friends have enjoyed this past week preparing for their last tournament together. As for worrying about the gravity of the state tournament, Zeilinger defers to Maurer.
“I think for CJ it’s a lot bigger for him because it was his goal since freshman year was to win conference and go to state and we got both goals done this season so it’s’ pretty cool,” Zeilinger said. “This is a great experience, but it was never a dream for me.”
Unfortunately for the two friends, their time together is soon ending as Zeilinger is returning to Germany on Sunday. Upon his return, Zeilinger will resume his schooling in Germany with a goal of running a business in the future.
Maurer, meanwhile, is slated to start boot camp for the Army Reserves in July.
Despite the long distance and different paths, the two plan to continue their friendship.
“It will be hard with us being so far apart and CJ being in the Army, and I don’t even know if we’ll be able to talk much at first with his boot camp, but I would like to stay in touch,” Zeilinger said.
Regardless of the difference paths, the Broncos’ duo will always be able to share a laugh and look back at their senior year with fond memories.
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