Tennis team stepped it up

Coming into the 2010 season, the Sheboygan Falls Falcons boys tennis team had plenty of potential to be a good team and proved it with a great season.

Falls finished 9-4 overall, 6-3 in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference, which was good for third place in the final conference standings.

The Falcons took first place at the Center Court Invite in Fond du Lac and were second in the WIAA Division 2 sub-sectional. No. 4 singles player Dustin Schueffner and the No. 3 doubles tandem of David Bimmel and Doug Arpke advanced to sectional play.

“I was very pleased with how the players stepped up,” said Falcons coach Leigh Cherveny. “We had to replace a lot of seniors, but I was confident that we had the depth to replace them.”

Senior Rickey Haase moved into the No. 1 singles slot and senior Peter Bimmel went to No. 2 singles. Newcomers Baylor Bachman and Schueffner played at No. 3 and No. 4 singles respectively.

In doubles, Nathan Brown and Dan Duda teamed up at No. 1 and Adam Lorenz/Karl Huberty were at No. 2, while David Bimmel paired with Arpke and Mitch Thimmig at No. 3.

“We knew we were going to face some strong players at number one and number two singles,” stated Cherveny. “Eighty percent of our wins came from our third and fourth singles players and our number three doubles team.”

Cherveny commended Haase and Peter Bimmel for taking on strong players from Plymouth and Manitowoc Roncalli. Both teams finished ahead of the Falcons in the standings.

“This group really came through,” remarked Cherveny. “We basically had the entire team change from last season.”

Cherveny felt Plymouth was stronger with the addition of a foreign exchange student at No. 1 singles, while Roncalli returned several state contenders from the year before.

“I will miss the seniors,” expressed Cherveny. “It was a great group to work with. Our other players need to work harder this summer.”

Cherveny thinks Russell Preder, Mark Fisher and Mitch Thimmig could step into the lineup next season.

Awards were presented at a recent banquet at Firehouse Pizza. Participant awards and 100 points were distributed to Dean Wingert, Joey Lorenz, Clayton Ottman and Nathan Berg.

Letters and 200 points were presented to Arpke (two time), Brown (three time), David Bimmel (two time) Peter Bimmel (three time), Duda (three time), Haase (three time), Peter Dobrznsky (two time), Evan Grossen (two time), Lorenz (three time), Huberty (one time), Thimmig (one time), Bachmann (two time), Fisher (one time), and Schueffner (one time).

All Conference Awards were presented to Bachmann (second team No. 3 singles), Schueffner (first team No. 4 singles) and David Bimmel, Thimmig/Arpke (first team No. 3 doubles).

Other awards were presented to Fisher and Grossen for finishing in first and second place at the Junior Varsity Tournament.

Schueffer earned the Most Improved Award, David Bimmel was honored with a Most Valuable Player Award and Adam Lorenz collected the Player of the Year Award.

Falls opened the season with a first place tie at the Fond du Lac Invite.

In dual-meet action, the Falcons began the season with five straight wins. They defeated Howards Grove 5-2 in the opener.

Falls reeled off a 6-1 win at Kewaunee, a 5-2 triumph over Waupun, a 7-0 shutout of Kewaskum and a 4- 3 victory over Kohler.

The following week, the Falcons tallied three straight losses to fall to 4-2 in the EWC and 5-3 overall. Plymouth won 5-2, with Roncalli and St. Lawrence slipping by at 4-3.

Two Rivers surprised the Falcons with a 4-3 win, before Falls finished 6-3 in the EWC with a 6-1 win over Chilton.