Spring Sports
Another tight SVL-I season expected
By IAN QUILLEN - iquillen@sungazette.comArticle Photos
Its top two singles players are back, as Chris Wyshock and Frankie Casale are still just juniors. Role players Colt Sortman and Michael Hayes are also underclassmen.
Defending District 4 Class AA champs Montoursville lost five seniors from last year’s starting seven, including top two singles players Bobby Brown and Ryan Baxter.
And the rest of the district’s teams will have to improve upon last year’s effort to show they can challenge the defending SVL-I champions.
But the Lancers still have their own questions to answer, including how to fill the void left by four-year starters Chas Martin and Vince McMullen.
“Some of those sophomores are going to play for sure,” said Loyalsock coach Rick Zimmerman, who had seven on his opening-day roster. “How they develop will go a long way to determining how successful we are as a team.”
Loyalsock missed out on last year’s team title by the slimmest of margins, 3-2 to Montoursville as the Lancers and Warriors split their four-match series.
But Montoursville coach Steve Brown’s top returner is junior David Brown, who won a district doubles title last year with Baxter, while older brother Bobby made a surprise run to the singles crown as Montoursville’s second-seed.
Montoursville’s only other player back from that championship match is Jason Misfud, who played at No. 1 doubles that day.
“The way I look at it right now,” said Brown, “in our division, not in any part order, I see Hughesville, Loyalsock and Danville. And I think Williamsport’s got some fellows coming along. There’s going to be some interesting play.”
Brown’s team lost to Loyalsock in an SVL-I playoff after they both tied at 12-2 in the regular season. Williamsport trailed in the league, but then put together a surprising run to the District 2-4 Class AAA title, defeating previously unbeaten Wallenpaupack in the semifinals.
The Millionaires also look different this year, though.
Nick Rall, last year’s No. 3, has leap-frogged teammate Chris Connolly into the No. 2 spot, while Michael Tobiasz transferred from St. John Neumann to become the No. 1 seed. Alex Beattie, last year’s top singles player and District 2-4 Class AAA champ, now serves as an assistant coach while playing for Lycoming.
Rall may be following Beattie’s lead.
“Nick has improved greatly,” said Williamsport coach Leroy Baer, who saw similar gains from Beattie throughout last season. “He worked hard over the summer. ... He’s a steady player, a counter-puncher, and he gets everything back.”
At Hughesville,top singles players Stephen James, Dan Fritz are back, as is much of the rest of the squad are back for the Spartans, who hope to be in the SVL-I and district picture.
“I think we should have a pretty good season,” coach Beth Myers. “I’ve got a nice mix of experience with Steve and Dan at the top spots, and enthusiasm with underclassmen. So we’ll see how we make out.”
Muncy has No. 2 singles player David Breneisen among its returning starters, and will attempt to repeat upon its SVL-II championship last season, one where the Indians went undefeated until losing to Montoursville in the district semifinal.
“The main problem may be our depth,” said Muncy coach Matt McCrone, “But talent-wise, we should be alright.”
And in the NTL, Mansfield returns all of its roster, including the singles duo of brothers Andrew and Alex Makos, meaning the Tigers should be favored to win the league again. The goal is to do something in the district team tournament, where the Mountaineers lost 3-0 to Loyalsock in a semifinal last year. Mansfield was close to forcing a third set in both suspended matches.
“We’ve definitely got some things that are going to change,” said Mansfield coach T.J. Freeman, who added that he is exploring tinkering with his doubles rotation. In the NTL, players can play both singles and doubles in the same meet, thus doubles players in district play are often untested.
“I think we’ve done some things to change the stereotype of this league having zero talent.”
Cowanesque Valley
Class: AA
Coach: Nate Coolidge
Last year: 7-6 (7-5 NTL)
Roster:Seniors: Mike Cummings, Sean Gleason. Juniors: Blake Chamberlain, Matt Sick, Sam Monks. Sophomores: Ean Wang, Mitch Kreisler. Freshmen: Jake Clemens, Dylan Christman, Max Marzolf, Sean Lewis
Elkland
Class: AA
Coach: Tim Whitney
Last year: 10-2 (10-2 NTL)
Roster: Seniors: Levi Turner, Curtis Hatch, Ryan Stewart, Josh Butler. Juniors: Ryan Maloney. Sophomores: Zack Fish. Freshmen: Zack Mazza, Mike Heitzenrater.
Galeton
Class: AA
Coach: Dan Brelo
Assistants: Della Bennet, Tom Brander, Justin Prouty
Last year: 4-8 (4-8 NTL)
Roster:Seniors: Chris Reeves, Jesse Lubera, Adam Crawford. Juniors: Craig Wimmer, Taylor West, Kyle Moore, Eric Traud. Sophomores: Brandon Goodling, Mike Murray, Daniel Clifton, Devin Shadle, Shawn Pickup. Freshman: Lynn Leach, Carl Beacker, Donovan Thomas, Levi Everett, Dan Basile, Matt Hand.
Hughesville
Class: AA
Coach: Beth Myers
Roster:Seniors: Stephen James. Juniors: Dan Fritz, Mike Rabb, Bruce Waugh, Marcus Miller, Nathan Golshans. Sophomores: Freshman: Randall Davis, Cody Butler, Ian Bubb.
Jersey Shore
Class: AA
Coach: Chris Fravel
Assistants: Duke Fravel
Last year: 5-13 (2-12 SVL-I)
Roster: Seniors: Zach Zimmerman, Zach Cummings, Sam Nau, Matt Crawford, Mike Kregger, Ryan Sander. Junior: Devin Rachael. Sophomores: Chris Fravel, Andy Fry, Freshmen: Alex Clemontoni, Brynn Eiffert.
Lewisburg
Class: AA
Coach: Matt Barr
Roster: Seniors: Hayden Clark, Harry Lesher, Drew Milner, Jared Young. Juniors: David Belenko, Scott Hyde, Zach Lightman. Sophomores: Mitch Smyth, Peter Ptacek.
Liberty
Class: AA
Coach: Tracy Gregory
Last year: 6-6 (6-6 NTL)
Roster: Seniors: Matthew Fulkerson. Juniors: Joel Gregory, Robby Pearson. Sophomores: Brad Scott-Knecht. Daniel Kreger.
Loyalsock
Class: AA
Coach: Rick Zimmerman
Last year: 17-3 (14-1 SVL-I)
Roster: Seniors: Nick Tate, Thomas Taylor. Juniors: Frankie Casale, Colt Sortman, Chris Wyshock. Sophomores: Dan Diehl, Michael Hayes, Kyle Kling, Ben McMullen, Evan Nardone, Brandon Pile, Jimmy Shipman. Freshman: Jeff Ulman, Adam Kennedy.
Mansfield
Class: AA
Coach: TJ Freeman
Last year: 12-1 (12-0 NTL)
Roster: Seniors: Casey Dinnison, James Toth, Andrew Makos, Tim Berguson. Juniors: Ethan Chabala, Ben Reed, Dinesh Ramasamy, John Draxler. Sophomores: Kevin Maloney, Alex Makos. Freshman: Alex Nadas.
Montoursville
Class: AA
Coach: Steve Brown
Assistants: Georgia Barbus
Last year: 15-3 (13-2 SVL-I).
Seniors: Ethan Schmick, Dustin Mitchley, Luke Foresman, Brett Freund. Juniors: David Brown, David Phibbs, Wyatt Nolan, Andy Stahl, Everett Shea, Larry Burns, Eric Durrwachter, Ben Haas, Curtis Hines, Jason Misfud, Matt Suhrer, Tyler Weaver. Sophomore: Steve Slocum, Nate Stroup.
Muncy
Class: AA
Coach: Matt McCrone
Assistants: Bo Meyer
Last year: (17-1, 14-0 SVL-II)
Roster: Seniors: David Breneisen, David Sterngold, Jimmy Payne. Juniors: Matt Temple, Sean Muthler, Sean Myers, Jordan Meeder, Quinn Yeager, Urie Kline. Sophomores: Noah Sterngold, Dakota Deem, Tedd Waddell, John Waddell. Freshmen: Spencer Charles, Roma Robinson.
St. John Neumann
Class: AA
Coach: Aimee Plastow
Last year: 0-15 (0-14 SVL-II)
Roster: Juniors: Josh Garcia, Jimmy Creeley, Darrin Cristman, Jude Keenan. Sophomores: Lucas McNutt. Freshmen: Jeremy Garcia, Ian Labate. Francisco Gonzales.
South Williamsport
Class: AA
Coach: Ken Young
Last year: 4-11 (3-11 SVL-II)
Roster:Seniors: Ron Thompson, Austin McNeil, Alden Hiller, James Metzger, Nate Good, Michael Marcusky. Juniors: Alex Karney, Alex Hiller, Shane Swope.
Williamsport
Class: AAA
Coach: Leroy Baer
Assistants: Alex Beattie
Last year: 10-7 (8-6 SVL I)
Roster: Juniors: David Ciccarelli, Jon Fronk, Nick Rall, Ryan Silberg, Logan Synoracki, Thad Trafford. Sophomores: Daniel Abercrombie, Stefan Barbee, Jaron Bartholomew, Zach Caputo, Ryan Collins, Chris Connolly, Jack He, Stephen Kirol, Matthew Sluhocki, Michael Tobiasz, Cody Tyson, Evan Wolyniec. Freshmen: Dan Daniels, Codey Kaiser.
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