Winners in Westfield: Green Wave Tennis Wins Blue Devil Invitational

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Christian Lalin, Varsity Tennis Captain

On April 24, the Delbarton Varsity Tennis team traveled to Westfield Tennis Club to partake in the Blue Devil Invitational. Delbarton had never won the tournament, and Millburn and Westfield looked to keep it this way at the tournament. The tournament was structured as a “flight” tournament, which meant that rather than participating as a team with a win or loss overall, competitors were asked to compete individually with the results equating to points that would contribute to the overall team score. While Delbarton had never won this tournament, the 2019 team had reached the finals just two years prior – the best showing any Delbarton team had ever made it to date. In addition to the leadership of head coach John Thompson, and assistants Coach Savidge and Coach O’Connell, this 2021 team is led by five seniors, including star singles-players John Walentowicz (senior) and Michael Zheng (junior). 

The Westfield Invitational is played on clay, which is a new surface for the Delbarton tennis team, and one they will not see that again for the rest of the season. Many wondered if this would be an impediment to the Delbarton tennis team’s success. It was not.

Delbarton won every match in its first round and eagerly moved onto the championship matches. All three Delbarton singles (Michael Zheng, John Walentowicz, and Nick Gritz) played up to their billing and cruised through their final matches. Meanwhile, doubles-players (William Robinson, Sam Walsh, Christian Lalin, and Cameron Scarpati) received quite the challenge in their final matches. The Robinson and Walsh duo combined for a 3 and 3 victory, while the Lalin-Scarpati team overcame some adversity to ultimately win the match 5 and 5. As a team, Delbarton won the Blue Devil Invitational for the first time in school history! 

As a member of the Delbarton tennis team, winning this tournament was a really humbling experience. We have all been in the tennis program long enough to know about our storied history and its deep tradition and accomplishments, so to have an opportunity to etch our own record into this program is a great honor. We have a great group of guys, and we worked hard during the offseason and continue to work in practice every day. We have a lot of support for each other, so I am really excited to see where this team can go. 

After the tournament victory, Delbarton looks to continue its success during the Bryan Bennett tournament, Morris County tournament, as well as the State and hopefully Tournament of Champions later this year. For now, we will keep a watchful eye over these young men. Go Green Wave!