By: Maddy Bellew

This weekend New Albany’s Varsity boys tennis team swept away the competition at their annual invitational. Every year NAHS hosts a tournament with seven participating schools from around the area: Providence, Clarksville, Charlestown, Austin, Lanesville, Pekin and Scottsburg.

Winning with 56 points sounds like a clean sweep, but number one singles player senior Alex Stewart still thinks there are things the team can improve upon.

“I think we performed well,” said Stewart. “But we definitely need to have a little tougher mental game in the big matches and beat the easier opponents more efficiently.”

Stewart is currently undefeated with seven wins and zero losses.

The Bulldogs placed first with 56 total points and Providence finished second with 40 total points. Coach Bob Dusch was pleased with the boys’ performance this weekend.

“I think the boys did great,” said Dusch. “This was one of our goals; with every match we want to improve. I feel that with proper focus, we can have the best team in the area.”

The season has definitely started off right with a record of four wins and only one loss.

The line-up consists of Stewart, junior Kyle Landrum, and senior Luke Garmon at numbers one, two and three singles respectively, seniors Shuaib Mirani and Kris Thomas at number one doubles and junior Arvind Dhanapal and senior Cameron Mullins at number two doubles.

“Our toughest match was against Providence,” said number one doubles player Mirani. “Brendan Popson and Daniel Becht of Providence came out ready to play. As Alex had said, the pressure was on since we were playing Providence. They have a pretty good squad and we wanted the win more than they did.”

Mirani and Thomas are currently holding a 6-1 record.

There is still a lot of season left for the team, but winning the invitational should give the team the confidence and drive to keep up the great work.

“Our season has been great, with the exception of the opening match of the season loss to our rival Floyd Central. That loss has only created more motivation to beat them next time we face off,” said a confident Garmon, New Albany’s number three singles player. “This year we definitely have the potential to make it out of regionals this year and possibly semi-state. If we can keep the whole team focused for the rest of the season, I don’t see why we can’t make it to state.”