O'Connell Finishes Second in Men's Tennis

By DAVID STEINBACHER
Special to the HERALD
(From the issue of 5/16/02)

The O'Connell Knights, the Ireton Cardinals and the Paul VI Panthers all finished in the top-five of the recent Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) Tennis Championships.

O'Connell played excellent tennis and captured second place at the competitive event held May 7-10 at Bluemont Park in Arlington. DeMatha finished first.

The Knights have been led for the past 18 seasons by veteran coach Bob Kluba - the elder statesman of WCAC tennis and one of the most experienced tennis coaches in the entire region.

The "Blue and Silver" was paced by senior Luis Salazar, juniors Brian Fitzgerald and Trong Dinh, and sophomores Mani Barajas-Alexander, Nebya Retta, Chris Rouse and Jonathan Caballero.

Junior standout Brian Fitzgerald captured his second consecutive singles #1 title (freshman year he finished as runner-up to DeMatha All-Met Kenny Roy).

Fitzgerald (seeded third) defeated Gonzaga and Ireton 10-2, 10-3 in the quarterfinals and semi-finals respectively. The junior defeated top-seeded Aaron Carr of DeMatha 10-3 for the 2002 title.

"Brian is very strong mentally," said Kluba. "His physical game is good, but his mental game is excellent."

"My overall game wasn't the best it's ever been, but I really wanted this match," Fitzgerald said. "I was very determined to get the win." The junior finished with a 12-3 season record, and was selected Washington Post honorable mention All-Met for the second consecutive year.

Barajas-Alexander (seeded third) defeated Paul VI and Ireton 10-2, 10-8, before bowing out to DeMatha's Tsiamo Sobukwe (fourth seed) 10-8 in the singles #2 title match. The sophomore finished with a 10-4 season record.

Retta (sixth seed lost an 11-9 slugfest to Good Counsel's Ryan Quinn (third seed) in singles #3. He finished with a 3-4 season record, due to a season of injuries.

Salazar (second seed) defeated Paul VI and Gonzaga 10-2, 10-3 before losing 10-4 to DeMatha's Leon Vessels (top seed) in the singles #4 title match.

Dinh (seventh seed) lost a 10-6 decision to Gonzaga's Kyle Kerivan (second seed) in the singles #5 quarterfinals. Rouse (second seed) defeated McNamara 10-3, before dropping a 10-1 decision to DeMatha's Thomas Thayer (third-seeded) in the single's #6 semi-finals.

In doubles #1, Fitzgerald/Barajas-Alexander (first seed) defeated McNamara and Ireton 10-0, 10-5 - before defeating Carr/Sobukwe (third seed) of DeMatha 10-6 for the championship.

"We were focused, Barajas-Alexander said. "We knew what we had to do and we took care of business."

"We were very successful this season at doubles #1," Kluba said. "Brian brought the best out of Mani. The two of them had excellent chemistry."

In doubles #2 , Rouse/Jonathan Caballero were defeated 10-2 by Patrick Deegan/John Uy of St. John’s in the quarterfinals. In doubles #3, Salazar/Dinh defeated Good Counsel and Gonzaga 10-6, 10-7 before losing a tough 10-7 decision to Charles Jones/Brendan McKenna of DeMatha 10-7 in the title match.

"We played as well as we could have this season," said Kluba. "We were quite young. We will definitely be respectable next season."

The Ireton Cardinals played well and captured third place. The Cardinals were led by fourth-year head coach Mike Hutton, who also coaches the girls JV basketball team.

In singles #1, senior Eric Sullivan defeated Paul VI 10-6 in the quarterfinals, before being dispatched by eventual tournament champion Brian Fitzgerald of O'Connell in the semi-finals.

In singles #2, sophomore Matt Stevenson defeated Gonzaga 10-2 in the quarterfinals, before being defeated by O'Connell's Barajas-Alexander 10-8 in the semi-finals.

In singles #3, sophomore Michael Bruce defeated McNamara and Good Counsel 10-0 and 10-2 in the quarterfinals and semi-finals respectively, before defeating Dan Rowland of DeMatha (top-seeded) 10-7 for the 2002 Championship. The sophomore finished the season with a 15-4 record.

"Michael was very consistent and he kept his head in the match," said Hutton. " He took advantage of Rowland's unforced errors and played very well. Michael matured a lot as a player this season." In singles #4, senior Richard Anderson was upset by St. John's Patrick Toro in the quarterfinals.

In singles #5 , senior Mike Szemborski defeated Good Counsel 10-8 in the quarterfinals, before dropping a 10-8 decision to Brendan McKenna of DeMatha in the semi-finals.

In singles #6, senior Nitin Chandra upset Sean Strauch of Paul VI 11-9 in a serious slugfest.

Paul VI played well and captured fifth-place. The Panthers were led by third-year head coach Craig Tutt (also the boys freshman basketball coach).

In singles #5, junior Brian Snell (third seed) defeated St. John’s and Gonzaga 10-6, 10-6 in the quarterfinals and semi-finals respectively. Snell won the Panthers lone 2002 championship by defeating DeMatha's Brendan McKenna (top seed) 10-7 in the finals. The junior completed the season at 12-3, one of the best marks in the WCAC.

"Brian worked hard," said Tutt. "He got better and better with each match. He will be outstanding next season.

"We lost five guys off last seasons team," he said. "Basically Matt (Oberhofer) and Luke (Heffernan) were our only two returning players with a decent amount of experience. Brian (Snell) was a very pleasant surprise. He really stepped up this year. Kevin (Reppert) also improved a whole lot to be able to play #1 this season. We should be good next year."

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