David Cook
Sports Scene
It’s not how you start, but how you finish.
At least that’s the case with the Mason boys tennis team. After a slow start to the season, the Bulldogs came on strong down the stretch.
“We started off slow, we lost our first four matches, but then we won our last six, so we peaked at the right time,” coach Dee McCaffrey said. “We have a pretty good combination of a lot of younger guys and some seniors. We started with eight at the beginning of the season and we got up to 15 at the end, so we added several new guys during the season, and that‘s been a big boost for our team.”
A strong recruiting effort by the coach and players helped to increase the number of players on the team.
“We were beating the bushes and kept telling the guys that had friends to have them come out, and it worked. They got a couple friends here, and then those friends got a couple guys. There were a couple of guys who had picked up a racquet before, but for the most part it was their first experience in competitive tennis.”
Leading the way for the Bulldogs has been the one-two punch of Yannik Von Der Schmitt and Cody Pavlat. Von Der Schmitt, an exchange student, has played at No. 1 singles, while Pavlat, last year’s No. 1, has played at No. 1 and No. 2.
“They’ve been a one-two punch for us all season,” McCaffrey said.
Mason’s recruiting efforts will come in handy during the off-season, as four seniors along with Von Der Schmitt will be gone.
“We’re going to be looking for five more guys next year,” McCaffrey said. “Since the change of seasons it’s pretty much been the same drill. You get seven or eight guys and you have to look for five or six more just to complete your team. So we’ll have a good nucleus next year, but we will still be looking for some players next year.”