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2008 outlook
While new coach Bryan Mours has lofty goals for the Central College men’s tennis program, he’s not interested in utilizing a five-year plan to get there.
Inheriting a squad that posted a third-place Iowa Conference finish, Mours sees no reason to wait before scaling greater heights.
“We’ve got four seniors,” he said. “This is their last go-around. We’ve worked really hard to bring in some quality freshmen to play with them, so we want to go places right away.”
Central opens the 2008 campaign at home Saturday taking on Augustana (Ill.) at 11 a.m. and St. Ambrose at 2 p.m. at H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse.
Six letterwinners return from last year’s 14-9 squad, including the team’s top five in the singles lineup.
Jared Feddersen enters his fourth season in the lineup and his second at the No. 1 singles spot. He posted a 13-10 record last year, earning the team De Haan MVP Award as well as ESPN The Magazine Academmic All-District honors. Feddersen enters the season ranked 13th on Central’s career singles wins list with a 44-27 mark.
Feddersen’s former Fort Dodge High School teammate, sophomore Luke Boyd, will likely play at No. 2 singles again after a 10-13 freshman campaign, typically taking on more experienced players.
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Jared and Lucas look really good,” Mours said. “Both have put in a lot of time preparing for the season and have been extremely coachable. They’re both determined to make a run at the top players in the conference.”
Yet another Fort Dodge product, freshman Dan Bowser, is making a strong bid for the No. 3 position. Meanwhile four players—seniors Justin Scherff, Chris Bliss and Nick Rohner along with freshman Jacob Dreyer—are contending for the remaining three singles spot.
Bliss is likely to emerge at No. 4 after spending most of last season at No. 3.
“It will depend on the day,” Mours said. “All four are equal in many aspects and have strengths in different areas. It’s a matter of who is playing well at the time. But Chris Bliss has a little more experience playing at No. 3 and 4.”
Mours also likes the effort he’s seeing from junior Joel Druvenga and senior Michael Hammond. Druvenga lettered last season and made some apperances at No. 5 and 6 singles as well as No. 3 doubles.
“He’s right there,” Mours said. “He could be with the top seven. He’s got the experience and knows how to play the college game.”
Hammond returns to the squad after a year’s absence.
“He’s getting himself back where he needs to be,” Mours said.
Central could get help from freshmen Nick Schnicker of Burlington and Drew Randol of Pella as well. Randol played for Mours at Pella High School.
In doubles, Feddersen and Boyd were 13-11 at No. 1 doubles last year and will likely retain that spot. Scherff and Bliss were 10-11 at No. 2 but the No. 3 position is unsettled.
However Mours warns the lineup could change throughout the season.
“I’m not afraid to kind of shake things up after looking at the results,” he said. “But I’ve also learned that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The Dutch are taking on an ambitious schedule that includes several top NAIA opponents. Graceland, which finished 15th last year, visits Pella for a Feb. 2 triangular. Then on a spring break trip to southern California, meeting Vanguard (Calif.), which was sixth and Concordia-Irvine, which was 16th and Chapman, the 25th-ranked NCAA Division III club.
“We’ve scheduled some matches where we’ll be favored and some where we’ll be slight underdogs,” Mours said. “But I don’t see any matches on the schedule that we can’t win on a good day. We aren’t going to shy away from playing good teams. That’s the only way we can improve.”
Mours said the transition for his players has been easier than it was for the Dutch women’s squad because with fall workouts, the men have had a longer adjustment period. He’s making some changes, but is focusing more on strategy than technique.
“Too many guys just hammer the ball back and forth and don’t think about what they’re doing,” Mours said. “We want to play with what I call cautious aggressiveness. That’s knowing when to take a chance and go for it and when to hold back and set things up.”