Wake Forest Athletics
Putting The Pieces Together
1/21/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Spring 2001
Wake Forest men's tennis coach Jeff Zinn is back for his fifth year at the helm of the Demon Deacon program that is brewing with excitement about the upcoming season. Four starters return from a team that just missed making the NCAA tournament last year.
Senior Raul Munoz and junior Justin Kaufmann return alongside a talented trio of sophomores, David Bere, Mike Murray and Trent Brendon. Add two heralded freshmen, Andrew Simpson and David Loewenthal, to the mix and the Deacon netters look to be a formidable challenge on all their opponents' schedules this year.
"Right now our expectations are high," said Zinn. "What I see from last year is that everyone has improved. That is a goal of our system - that each year, in increments, the players gradually get better. It has been very noticeable that the players came back and have been playing better than last year. That is important to us in building a solid program."
The 2001 phase of building the Wake Forest program is based around some fundamental goals set by the Demon Deacons.
"We want to be in the upper half of the ACC," Zinn said. "We should be there. We have the talent to be there. It's playing well on a consistent basis. If you look back on the last four years, we've beaten every ACC team except Duke and we played them very close. We can beat the teams, it's doing it consistently day-in and day-out. Another goal is the NCAA Tournament. We've been so close the last two years and haven't received a bid. That has been a motivating factor for the team this year. They have felt that we've deserved a bid the last two years and we haven't gotten the phone call."
Missing the Big Dance seems to have made an impression on the Deacs, as they have taken to the courts with a little more firepower this fall.
"I think they look hungrier," Zinn said. "What we have that a lot of teams don't have is really good team chemistry. The guys really do like and respect each other. That helps us because they feed off other, they push each other and they encourage each other. That's very noticeable this year - our camaraderie and our chemistry."
A major part of Wake's team chemistry is due to the fact that the team hasn't changed much from last season.
"We lost three guys from last year's team and two were starters," Zinn explained. "Both were good players that played anywhere from one to five in our lineup. We feel that David Loewenthal can come in and neutralize that along with our other players getting better. So we feel that even though we're losing two starters and only gaining one, that we're a stronger team just because of the youth of our team last year. We're talking about three freshmen playing in our lineup most of the year, and that's a big difference now they're back as seasoned sophomores. They've come back ready to make a statement. The sophomores are the nucleus of our team. David Bere, Michael Murray and Trent Brendon are the nucleus that we build around."
Wake Forest has built a talented group around that nucleus. The Demon Deacons have a couple of surprises this season with a pair of newcomers that seem to be fitting in fine with the rest of the team.
"Our freshman class has done very well," said Zinn. "David Loewenthal has really improved since he has come here. We think he will make a definite impact on our team and really strengthen our team. Andrew Simpson has been a nice surprise. He has had a nice fall season and gotten his feet wet. He should see some action in doubles this spring."
Doubles action may be the strong suit of the Demon Deacons this season. Mike Murray and Justin Kaufmann are ranked 40th nationally in the preseason doubles polls. Plus, Wake Forest returns the services, and serves, of 2000 ACC Doubles Flight Champion and two-time ACC Doubles Champion Raul Munoz.
"Doubles should be a strong points for us," Zinn said. "We have good doubles players in David Loewenthal and Andrew Simpson, plus we've got one of the best in the country in Raul Munoz. He is probably the best I've ever coached. He understands the doubles game so well and he's a huge help to the younger guys, passing tips down to them. We have four solid doubles teams and we'll play whoever is hot, because we have confidence in all four."
While the Demon Deacon roster may not boast of any big name superstars, this group of blue collar workers are ready, and have already began, to punch the clock.
"Hard working overachievers," Zinn said. "That has been our motto - to overachieve. We don't have the international superstars that are ranked number one in Europe, number one in South America or number one in Australia. We just don't have those type of players. We have the type of players that were very, very good junior players in the U.S. and we are trying to make them even better. That is our philosophy - to keep improving. Don't stay status quo, keep improving from year to year, to semester to semester, to month to month. We want the guys to keep improving and stay with the system, to listen to what we're teaching them and they will get better. Come out to practice every day - that's an old cliche, but in our system it really pays to work hard at practice because we provide a teaching environment. That's what we are - we're a hard working group of young men and overachievers."
This group of overachievers have their work cut out for them this year with the kind of schedule that Zinn has arranged for the Deacons to play. Wake Forest will play a dozen teams that are ranked in the preseason ITA polls, including No. 9 Florida and at No. 4 Duke.
"We play a lot of big name schools," Zinn said. "It helps. It has always been my philosophy to schedule the best teams that will play you home and home. We do that for two reasons. One is to get the fans to top quality programs and players, but the flipside our aspect is that we want our players to know that they have to be at a high level every match. That is going to help them, especially at the end of the season when it really counts at the ACC Championships and the NCAAs. So we try to peak at the end. If our players are playing good players match-in and match-out, they better be ready to come every day and better be improving everyday or they're going to get beat. That is my philosophy and my system."
Wake Forest won't have to look far to find high caliber opponents, as five of the nine conference schools are ranked nationally and all but one are ranked regionally.
"For us to get better as a team we have to continually improve," Zinn said. "For us to be a force in the ACC we have to continually get better each year."
Working in the favor of the Deacs is the comfort of playing at home. Wake Forest will kick off the season by hosting the ACC Indoor Championships Jan. 19-22. Starting Feb. 3, the Demon Deacons have 13 home matches and will host nearby schools UNC Asheville and High Point, perennial powerhouses Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth, William & Mary and top 50 teams Florida, Clemson, Virginia and Florida State.
"We play well at home," Zinn said. "We have made that a priority and one of our goals to go undefeated at home. It is a big advantage for us playing at home in both our indoor facility and our outdoor facility. It gives us an advantage that we would like to advantage of."
The Demon Deacons will certainly use the advantage of playing at home, but make no mistake, they want to be playing in Athens, GA, the site of the NCAA Championships at the end of May.
