MHS Boys Tennis 2022
As the spring sports season comes to a close, the boys’ tennis team stands out as an unlikely story of success. The boys’ record in years past has not been notable, winning their last conference championship title in 1995.
However, upon introducing the new head coach, Anton Carrera, to the program this year, things quickly changed. Senior Carson Pacheo reflects on the season, “we have really come together to improve our abilities as both players and teammates throughout this season.”
With this new coach, the team had its first decisive win in a match against Mountain Lakes (3-2) as sophomore and third singles player Charles Picaud won an intense tiebreak to clinch the victory. A match which MHS boys tennis usually loses. In their second match against Mo-Beard, the school that won the conference championship last year, captain and first singles player Jordan Opperman (senior) and second singles player Lukas Kolega (sophomore) both won in a tiebreak to win 3-2. These victories would slowly add up leading into the decision of who would be conference champions. Having a record of 10 – 4 the team won the title of conference champions. In states, they had a bye in the preliminaries and pulled out a victory against Parsippany Hills in the first round. The team unfortunately lost in the second round of states to Mendham 5-0.
Coach Anton is incredibly proud of the team’s accomplishments, saying at the tennis banquet that “the 2022 boys tennis season can be categorized as amazing.” Amazing is an understatement, the title that boys tennis earned this season is massive for the program which doesn’t even have a booster club. Instead, 3 parents help raise funds for the team, the so-called “rogue booster club” is led by Marlene and Rasika Abeysinghe and Jorge Amieva – and they do an excellent job.
The boys tennis program is improving greatly under the new leadership of Coach Anton Carrera, from whom we can expect great things next year. With a bright future ahead and leaving behind an uninteresting past, the boys tennis team is certainly one to follow in years to come.