By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
DE PERE – The Notre Dame Academy boys’ tennis team might not have a Ferrari in its lineup, but it has a lot of high-level players.
Those were the words of head coach Steve Burns after his Tritons bettered De Pere 6-1 in a Fox River Classic Conference match at De Pere High School May 2.
De Pere’s Nathan Balthazor, one of the top players in the state and a Marquette University commit, won the only match of the evening for the Redbirds, with Notre Dame sweeping the other three singles matches and all three doubles contests.
“This was a nice victory for us,” said Burns, whose team is the No. 1-ranked Division 2 team in the state. “We have a really good No. 1 singles player in Myles Krzewinski, but Balthazor is a phenomenal player – it’s tough for anyone to win a match against him.”
Every one of the seven matches ended in straight sets, with the most competitive matches being at No. 3 and 4 singles and No. 3 doubles.
“We won a few of those in-between matches that could have gone either way,” Burns said. “We are a young team, so I’m very happy the way we played.”
Burns said his team should be right in the mix for a team state championship this year and feels the tough competition in the FRCC only helps his squad.
“Obviously, with De Pere and Green Bay Southwest, you have two of the best players in the state in Balthazor and (Johnny) Zakowski,” Burns added. “Coming into a match, we know it’ll be tough to compete with them at No. 1 singles, but we have a lot of quality players on our team – I like where we are at.”
Balthazor’s 6-1, 6-0 victory over Krzewinski was the highlight of the evening for the Redbirds.
“We had a few matches that were close,” said De Pere head coach Jerry Gillespie. “I thought coming into the match that if everything went right for us, we could maybe squeak out a 4-3 win, but Notre Dame has a few more guys that play 12 months a year. We have some, they have more. We have three freshmen on our team, so our youth is showing a little bit. Still, we are having a very good season.”
Notre Dame improved to 4-0 in the FRCC, while De Pere dropped to 3-2.
Results – Notre Dame Academy 6, De Pere 1
Singles: No. 1 – Nathan Balthazor (DP) def. Myles Krzewinski (NDA), 6-1, 6-0; No. 2 – J.V. Steckart (NDA) def. Hayder Alkhalisy (DP), 6-2, 6-0; No. 3 – Tommy Zakowski (NDA) def. Calvin Hunt (DP), 6-3, 7-6 (2); No. 4 – Ryan Schram (NDA) def. Warren Mangum (DP), 6-4, 7-6.
Doubles: No. 1 – William Schneider/Alan Schneider (NDA) def. David Vandenberg/Jackson Harpt (DP), 6-1, 6-1; No. 2 – Josh Janssen/Christian Remington (NDA) def. Sam Champeau/Anthony Belleau (DP), 6-3, 6-1; No. 3 – Will Templeton/Henry Parish (NDA) def. Brett Daniels/Tyler Graf (DP), 6-4, 6-3.