Tennis Team's Undefeated Record on the Line Wednesday

Even before the season started, Fort Lee boys tennis coach Phil Zappel knew what his team was capable of.

With his top five players back for another season, including three seniors, the Bridgemen were destined for big things.

Fort Lee has achieved a perfect 5-0 record this season and is looking to continue that type of success later in the week with another set of matches.

But before reaching that point, the team paused on Tuesday to reflect on how they have reached this point--still without a loss.

“We have been amazing so far,” said senior Jason Halpern who plays first singles. “We haven’t lost any matches… we can’t be much better than that.”

Coach Zappel set high goals for a Bridgemen team that has already swept three opponents this year, including a Dwight Morrow squad Fort Lee will meet again  Wednesday.

“We are even exceeding our expectations,” said Zapppel. “Our expectations were to win the league and so far we are accomplishing it.”

Various members of the team pointed to chemistry as a key attribute.

“[The chemistry] is actually better than ever,” said two-time captain Jason Halpern. “Everyone is friendly on the team, and no one gets into arguments. We all play well and are very similar in the way we play.”

Coach Zappel has also noticed a similar type of play and competition from his team. Even though all three singles players returned to the team, the Bridgemen routinely have challenge matches throughout the year in which players can move up in the starting rotation with strong play.

“A lot of other coaches will try to do it once at the beginning of the year as a formality,” Zappel said. “I honestly didn’t know because a lot of [my] players are so close in talent that I didn’t know who would be [placed]  1, 4, or 7.”

In following this philosophy, the players have worked harder against each other to keep the spots on their own team. The result, a perfect, unblemished beginning to what they hope will become a memorable season.

Jason Halpern is undefeated at 5-0. Fellow seniors Peter Chin and Henry Huang are also undefeated at 4-0 in their individual singles matches.

In doubles, the returning pair of juniors Andrew Lee and Yuki Takahashi have also won all five of their matches.

Even a team that had never played together before in second doubles is undefeated. Senior Max Leblanc joined the team for the first time this year and freshman Nicholas Wong has worked his way into the mix through the challenge matches to earn a rare crack at the starting rotation for a freshman.  

“The second doubles is new and we were a little nervous about it,” senior Jason Halpern said. “So far they have been playing amazing. They haven’t even lost a set yet. They are what is keeping the team so energetic.”

“You really don’t see that often,” said coach Zappel of his freshman/senior duo. “The senior has the maturity and he can keep the freshman in check…now I think [Nicholas] feels like he can compete with them now that he has these matches under his belt. He has been beating up on juniors and seniors.”

And as Fort Lee has been beating up on their opponents, losing just two individual matches out of a total 25, their eyes remain on the next day and the next match.

Just because Fort Lee topped Dwight Morrow 5-0 in the middle of April, the team is taking the approach of not getting overzealous.

“We can’t get too confident because it is only the beginning of the season,” Halpern added.

“I was actually surprised that we beat them 5-0 the first time, because I still think they are the strongest team we faced,” said Zappel. “I wouldn’t be surprised if [Wednesday] is more of a 4-1, or a 3-2.”

On Wednesday, the undefeated season hinges on the result of the Fort Lee Bridgemen's home match against Dwight Morrow. The match is set to begin at 4 p.m. on the courts behind the Lewis F. Cole Middle School.