Friday, May 5, 2017

Boys Varsity Tennis wins Districts

Adrian Roji, Charlie Stadler, Neftali Jimenez-Castro, Matt Cabelus
Staff Writers

The NHS Boys Varsity tennis team is in the middle of another successful season in the BAL conference. With its only conference loss to Lower Moreland, they will be the number two seed heading into the district tournament. If they manage to win the district tournament, the team will head to the state tournament at Hershey later in May. This feat is completely possible for the guys because they lost a heart breaker to Lower Moreland where they should have won the deciding match, as the third doubles court lead 6-2 and 4-2.  
 Individually, two Lions, Adrian Roji, and Caleb Burrows, have had plenty of success. Caleb Burrows placed second in the BAL and District tournaments. Adrian Roji won both the BAL and District tournaments for the third time in his high school career--sophomore year is the only year he did not win. He will head to the state tournament in Hershey for a third time. Both players have not lost a match all season, with Adrian playing first singles and Caleb playing second singles.  
Senior Day was May 1, with the match starting at 3 p.m. The Lions beat Jenkintown six matches to one. The last conference match was Wednesday, May 3, away at Christopher Dock, resulting in yet another win.
On Thursday, May 4, the Lions played the district final against Lower Moreland, with the winner heading to the state tournament in Hershey, PA. For the first time in school history, New Hope won the district title in a nail biting match up. With a final scoreboard of 3-2, meaning three matches won for New Hope and 2 for Lower Moreland, the Lions advanced to play in the state tournament. Adrian Roji won at first singles 6-0 and 6-0, Clay Asplundh and Oliver Colvin won at second doubles 6-1 and 7-5, and Caleb Burrows won the deciding match 2-6, 6-3, and 6-4 at second singles to clinch the win. Emotions ran high.
The most successful season in New Hope tennis history continues as the Lions will hope to make a splash in Hershey. Wish them luck.