Tennis Season Recap: Bridgemen Go Undefeated in League Play

Every member of the Bridgemen tennis team enjoyed success this season, and the remaining players will look to remain a league powerhouse when next season rolls around.

The team finished with a league record of 8-0 and an overall record of 11-1, with every player on the team earning first team all league honors. The doubles team of Andrew Lee and Yuki Takahashi went undefeated for the entire regular season and finished up with second team all county honors for doubles competition. They also never lost a set until the semifinals of the county tournament, a feat which is beyond impressive.

The team was lead by head coach Philip Zappel, who was pleased and proud of all of his guys.

“We went undefeated in the league and exceeded many expectations in the county and state tournament,” Zappel said.

The season had many highlights including: going undefeated in the league, winning the league title, advancing to the semi-final round of the state sectional tournament, Lee and Takahashi getting to the semi-final round of the county tournament and defeating West Essex in the second round of the state tournament.

Along with the ups, like many athletic seasons for many sports teams the world over, there were some disappointments as well. The Bridgemen suffered a tough loss to a powerful Tenafly team, and the final loss of the season to Caldwell wasn’t fun, especially for the four graduating seniors, but everyone knows it was not due to lack of hard work, desire or dedication.

This was a very hard working team, in fact, and it was a fun season to witness. The team will look different next year, but the goals remain the same.

“We should be in a rebuilding stage after losing four seniors, including Captain and four-year letter winner Jason Halpern,  three-year letter winner Peter Chin, two-year letter winner Henry Huang and first-year letter winner Max LeBlanc," Zappel said. "Yuki and Andrew will be in new roles as singles players and seniors. They will be the leaders. Nicholas Wong will be potentially making a huge jump from second doubles to third singles and will still only be a sophomore. The rest of the positions should be up for grabs, and these positions will be filled by the underclassman, who practice hard, take lessons and attend camps in the off-season.”

Stay tuned next year for another exciting season of Fort Lee Bridgemen tennis.