There are no guarantees, which was the agenda for Dustin Demers when he began preseason training for his Bishop Feehan High boys' tennis team.
"We have a lot of kids vying for the seven spots," said Demers, whose Shamrocks carded a 12-4 regular season record last year and beat Nauset, on the road, in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament. "We have a lot of depth, so there's a lot of competition for spots."
The one spot that appears to be locked up is at No. 1 singles where senior captain Matt Boland returns as the incumbent, having compiled an 11-7 slate a year ago. Demers then has a pair of players who saw some extensive minutes playing at singles as well, junior Matt Ustas, who played mostly at No. 2 singles and senior captain Josh Loew.
"We have a lot of guys who can play, we're coming back strong," said Demers. A trio of seniors - Matt Miles, Devin Verzillo and Steve Swick - sophomore John Shanley and a pair of freshmen, Josh Scanlon and Jack Lahiff, all have proven to be talented and competitive.
Attleboro High Bombardiers Coach Russ Severs is hoping for improvement from day-to-day, week-to-week - it's going to be a season of learning for the Bombardiers, whose lost their top two singles players and both doubles teams from a squad that posted a dozen wins last year.
"Every team goes through its struggles," said Severs, "but I'm hoping for the best." The lone player with appreciable varsity experience is junior Matt Forrest, who had a tremendous season at No. 3 singles last year, compiling an 18-1 slate. Senior captain Eric Harris, a doubles player last year and sophomore Brian Lussier are also in the singles mix.
Amidst the cast vying for doubles spots are Saquib Thradery, Anil Mahesh and Samir Yusef.
The Falcons shared the South Coast Conference championship with Old Rochester last season, went 16-2 during the regular season and won a round in the Division 2-South Tournament. The Falcons
are hoping to match their ever-improving standards for success. "The freshmen that we have out are good, the sophomores back are improved," said D-R coach Victor Augusto.
Atop the Falcons' ladder is junior Jeff Medeiros, D-R's No. 1 singles player last season, who compiled a 15-5 record. Augusto had better than two dozen candidates for the team and is grooming junior Justin Torres, junior transfer Tim Guimond and sophomore Dylan Jann for singles action.
Seniors Tom Wooten and Neil Caswell are both doubles veterans and could be at No. 1 doubles or share roles with some of the newcomers.
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