Tennis often comes across as an individual sport. Singles matches. Single winners. Single championships. But a single sport is far from what the Blue Devils experienced this year, as their success was rooted in their performance as a team, not as an individual.
Led by senior captains Colin Cimei and Cole Hornbeck, the boys tennis team held a record of 21-8, winning the Union County Conference championship and the North 2, Group 4 championship.
To begin this historical season, Westfield started hot, winning their first three matches 5-0, and their fourth, 4-1. In their fifth game of the season, the Blue Devils fell to Christian Brothers Academy 3-2 at the Bryan Bennett Memorial Tournament, marking their first loss of the season.
However, in a remarkable return, the Blue Devils won their next eight games straight, winning 5-0 to all of their opponents, except Scotch Plains-Fanwood and J.P. Stevens, where they won 4-1. With these victories under their belts, Westfield proved themselves to be one of the dominant, if not the most dominant team in the Union County conference.
Their dominance would be illustrated in their Union County Tournament victory, as first doubles, Cimei and Hornbeck and second doubles, sophomore Evan Kahn and freshman Chris Winters, took gold. In first singles, junior Eshaan Khera and second singles, senior Deven Patel took silver, and lastly in third singles, senior Evan Sewald took gold. However, prior to the Union County Tournament, Westfield lost a tough matchup against Montclair, 3-2, but this loss did not stop the Devils from capitalizing in the tournament.
After a few more regular season games, Westfield had wrapped up the regular season with an impressive record of 17-7. The senior first doubles duo of Cimei and Hornbeck finished their season nothing shy of perfect with a 24-0 record, and second doubles finished with a record of 23-1.
“Our doubles were really strong again this year like they always are,” said Sewald. “And our doubles are the reason we did so well.”
From the regular season success, the Blue Devils rightfully earned a bye in the first round of the Group 4 tournament. In their first match of the tournament, the Blue Devils demolished Dickinson, 5-0, advancing to the semifinals against rival J.P. Stevens. Similar to their past game against J.P. Stevens, Westfield was able to pull away with another 4-1 victory, clinching a shot at the sectional finals against Ridge.
“Last season, the team lost to Ridge in the state sectional final,” said head coach Matt Varhley. And with the stakes high and a desire for vengeance, “In the rematch this season, our team defeated Ridge 3-2 to advance to the state group championship.”
Although there had been many highlights to this season, Sewald said, “The best highlight was probably beating Ridge in the sectional final and then going to groups and coming very close to winning it all.”
Not only was this victory a highlight for the Blue Devils, but it was the separating factor between last season’s team and this season’s team. Because of the program’s loss to Ridge last year, the expectation for their season performance was set slightly lower than the season prior. However, “The team exceeded expectations this season,” said Varhley.
The Blue Devils ended the season with an individual tournament that both doubles teams took part in. Although the Devils did not get as far as they had hoped for this tournament, they still had an amazing run. The first doubles team, Hornbeck and Cimei, made their way to the semifinals where they faced the first seed and had their first loss of the season. The second doubles team, Sewald and Winters, had an unfortunate loss to the four seed in the quarterfinals.
Although this is not the season ending the Blue Devils hoped for, it still was a great season, and now the team is looking forward to what will come next year. Despite losing four key seniors, the team is looking forward to what will come. “The future of the program is very bright,” said Sewald. “Even though we are losing four starters, a lot of guys will get better and play at a very high level next year. I’m confident that they will do as well as we did this year, if not better.”
