On Saturday, May 18, New Trier Boys Tennis earned a dominant victory in the first sectional competition held at the new Northfield campus tennis courts.

The Trevians’ sectional athletes placed first and second in both the singles and doubles championships, winning the sectional title with a perfect score of 36. Junior Dylan Drier and Sophomore Jay Wagh were the doubles champions, while Senior Jake Zipoli won the singles championship.

“I feel like our team performed very well at sectionals,” said Zipoli. “It couldn’t have gone any better.”

In the doubles completion, Senior Brent Saltzman and Sophomore Colin Fox were runner-ups to Drier and Wagh. Sophomore Max Bengtsson placed second in the singles championship—an injured shoulder prevented him from facing Zipoli in the final.

Bengtsson was also thrilled with how the team performed at sectionals. He pointed to the team’s hard work throughout the tennis season as the main factor behind their perfect score.

“The team fought very hard and that we deserved this win with the great season we have had,” said Bengtsson.

The rest of the Trevians’ sectional athletes echoed Bengtsson’s sentiment that sweeping sectionals was the product of their hard work throughout an excellent overall season. Head Boys Varsity Tennis Coach Tad Eckert added that he was impressed with how his team handled Loyola, the other top team at the sectional.

“We didn’t play Loyola this year but their doubles teams had great tournaments and we had to play well to beat them in both semi-finals,” said Eckert.

Fox, on the other hand, thought his match against the Loyola doubles team was fairly easy. He felt he and his partner didn’t face a real challenge until they faced their teammates in the finals.

“My partner, Brent Saltzman, and I performed very well before we made the finals as we won 6-0, 6-0 against Loyola and Taft,” said Fox. “We eventually lost to our teammates Jay Wagh and Dylan Drier in a very hard fought match in the finals.”

Because all six of the Trevians’ sectional athletes placed first or second at sectionals, they all qualified to compete at the IHSA State Tennis Tournament. It will be held May 23rd through 25th at tennis courts in northwest suburban School Districts 211, 214, and 220.

Last year, the Trevians placed second behind traditional rival Hinsdale Central. Hinsdale Central’s tennis program has won 25 tennis state championships, the most of any Illinois high school. New Trier has the second most state championships with 17.

According to the Winnetka Current, many in the New Trier tennis program think that the Trevians have a real opportunity this year to start catching up to Hinsdale Central in state championships. Earlier this season, they defeated Hinsdale Central by a not insignificant margin of five matches to two.

In the Current’s article about the tennis team, A confident Jay Wagh said “I think we’re all pretty set to win state.”

Some members of the tennis program have more subdued expectations of how they think the state tournament will play out.

“I think our team will do great to close out the season at state,” said Zipoli. I’m not sure what we’ll place, but I think we’ll definitely come home with a trophy.”

Zipoli’s outlook on the state tournament is perhaps the more realistic outlook for fans of the Trevians to take. The team will face stiff competition from Hinsdale Central and the other powerhouse programs, Naperville Central and Stevenson.

Nonetheless, if the Trevians go into the state tournament with a determined state of mind, they may well win the state championship.

“Our goal from the beginning of the season was to win the team state championship and by advancing all our entries thru sectionals we still have that shot,” said Eckert. “The competition will be tougher, but we are ready.”