4A Mideastern Conference Preview

The 2010 men’s tennis season will see a lot of new faces and new teams in the Mideastern Conference. With the addition of New Bern and Greenville Rose high schools in the conference, we are looking forward to a competitive season.

Wilmington Hoggard, the reigning conference champs for the past four years , will be returning five of its top six players from last year. Will Kent, Phillip Bonner and Will Visser will be back after qualifying for the individual and doubles state championships. Spencer Hitchins and Chad Phelps will return from a powerful season at the #5 and #6 spots a year ago. With the addition of Pattadol Bunnak , a foreign exchange student from Taiwan, the Vikings are ready to repeat as conference champs in 2010 and make another run at the regional championship.

Greenville Rose will be in a rebuilding mode after graduating five of its top 6 players from last year’s playoff qualifying team. The transition will be made easier by the incoming freshman Jordan Frazier who is currently ranked in the top 10 in boys' 14’s according to North Carolina’s USTA rankings.

Wilmington Ashley High School returns its entire line-up from last year, led by Jackson Morton who qualified for the state championships as an individual last year.   With the additions of Zach Finnigan and Andrew Gordy, the Eagles look to surprise some teams this year.

Wilmington Laney Coach Ruby Sutton is excited about her new freshman A.J. Stillwell and should be. He is highly skilled freshman who will give all the number one's in the conference a run for their money. With Dylan Kramer returning from last year’s team, Laney looks to be real strong at the top.

Wilmington New Hanover will be playing with some familiar faces and new additions to the team this year. With Sammy Kohl, David Leder, David Cox and Eric Leder returning from last year's second place team and the new faces of sophomore, top 10 ranked in the 16’s, Alex Gaines, senior Tom Hicks, and freshman Grant Dunlop all vying to get into the top six spots,  the Wildcats hope to dethrone the Vikings this year. At the time of this article New Bern had not reported any information.   We are all excited about the new conference, the returning talent and new young talent that is here this season. Good luck to all teams this season!