Get ready for another stellar season from Lindbergh High School boys tennis.
Ending last season with a 16-5 record and returning seven of the top eight players in the program, bodes pretty well for the Flyers. Out of those seven returning players, six of them went to state and finished in fourth place two years ago.
“This year one of our goals is to compete for and win another team district title,” said head coach Bryan Maier. “There are a lot of really good teams in the area, but it’s not every year you get this many guys returning from a team that made it to the district final last year and has the experience of winning a district title the year before that.”
Returner Josh McDonald went 14-3 last season playing at two singles. He also went 8-2 at one doubles when partnering with Eli McCulley.
Dillon Phruttitum, Jonathan Bell and George Moran also return this season.
“All of them had very successful seasons last year on the singles and doubles courts,” Maier said.
Additionally, Maier is also excited to have freshman Nathan Phruttitum join the team.
“There is still a lot of growth and development in his future,” he said. “We’ve been very happy with how quickly he’s adapted to the competition of high school tennis on both the singles and doubles courts.”
Maier challenged his players to improve certain aspects of their games at the end of last season and it seems the boys listened.
“The biggest positive I’ve seen so far is how many of them took that information to heart and obviously spent their offseason working on those things.”
Doubles play will be an area where the Flyers should excel this season.
“Doubles is something we pride ourselves on, and last year we went a combined 45-18 on the doubles court,” Maier said. “We work hard at doubles, but we also have some very talented players who excel at the discipline.”
The area is loaded with very good tennis teams this season and Maier is looking to the Flyers to take the next step.
“One of the hurdles for us this season will be to beat the best teams in the area,” he said. “Over the last two years, we have competed with a lot of really good teams, but it’s not enough to just compete with really good teams. Eventually, you have to beat them.”
Looking at the schedule, there are a lot of interesting matchups for Lindbergh.
“We play in the Edwardsville Invitational March 29-30, where we will see some really good teams from both Illinois and Missouri,” Maier said. “We also play in the Triad Invitational the following weekend, which will be another great test against some really good teams. Our schedule does not let up from there, as we play several other really good teams around St. Louis, such as Ladue, Marquette and SLUH.”
