NT_040419

northbrooktower.com sports
the northbrook tower | April 4, 2019 | 39
Boys Tennis
Jordan tries to put together pieces for season
photo courtesy of
UMKC Athletics
1st-and-3
Players of the
winter
1. Billy Donlon
(Above) The Glenbrook
North alumnus
got a second
chance at being
a head coach
for a college
men’s basketball
team, earning
the University of
Missouri-Kansas
City role.
2. Ryan Purdy
North’s senior
swimmer continued
to impress
with the Glenbrook
Swim Club
at the team’s
sectional meet.
3. Mia Fusco The
Spartans sophomore
scored eight
goals against
Palatine to help
the Spartans get
a good win near
the start.
Michal Dwojak, Sports Editor
Glenbrook North has
nine returning players this
season, which has head
coach Jeff Jordan excited.
The Tower Sports Editor
Michal Dwojak caught up
with Jordan to see what has
him excited about this year.
What are you looking
forward to this season?
Like every year, there’s
new guys on the varsity
team so it’s always exciting
to get to know the new
personalities on the team
and see how everybody has
improved over the summer
and the school year.
We’re kind of putting the
part to the puzzle together
with those new guys. We
have a freshman, his name
is Brandon Chi and he’s
starting to contribute a little
bit, so that’s interesting and
we’ve got several juniors
we didn’t have on the team
last year, so we’re kind of
figuring it out.
How do you figure out
what you want to do
with finding that perfect
rotation?
Well what we’ve been
doing a lot of, and it’s
been tough because of
the weather, I really don’t
worry about pairings right
now, I’m trying to have
everybody play with everybody
because they
might have pre-conceived
notions that they might be
playing with somebody
and that doesn’t always
work out in terms of being
able to return from the
same side and that kind
of thing. Sometimes you
might need a guy who puts
balls away and sometimes
you might need a guy
who’s more steady, so really
it’s just a lot of mixing
and matching and just
observing how it goes.
We started playing in this
indoor tournament with
New Trier and Highland
Park and a couple other local
schools that we played
a few weekends ago. We
had four double teams play
three matches, so it was really
nice to see them play
outside competition, and
that kind of exposes what’s
going on, who’s playing at
what level and strengths
and weaknesses.
Glenbrook North boys
tennis player Ben Riad
returns as a major
contributor for the
Spartans this season. 22nd
Century Media File Photo
Who are you looking
forward to seeing this
season?
We’re going to ask a
lot of Ben Riad in terms
of he’s going to play one
singles for us to start. He’s
probably one of the best
doubles players in the
entire state but we need
somebody to play that one
singles spot and he’s up for
the talent. So I’m excited
to see how that’s going
to work out. Ethan Park,
who’s our senior and Reid’s
doubles partner for the
last couple year, is now going
to be playing a little bit
with his brother Matthew,
who’s also a state qualifier
last year. So those two are
starting at one doubles, so
that’s exciting to see that
dynamic, having the brothers
together and having
Ethan play with his brother
and Reid moving over
to singles. We’re probably
going to rotate those three
guys through a little bit in
that regard.
How do you approach this
season with the group you
have?
Well we’ve got nine returners
coming back from
2019 Spartans Schedule
April 6 — hosts Liberty Bell Invite, 8:30 a.m.
April 10 — at Fremd, 4:30 p.m.
April 13 — at Harlem Invite, 9 a.m.
April 15 — hosts Warren, 4:30 p.m.
April 16 — hosts New Trier, 4:30 p.m.
April 18 — hosts Deerfield, 4:30 p.m.
April 20 — at Buffalo Grove Invite, 9 a.m.
April 23 — at Maine East, 4:30 p.m.
April 25 — at Highland Park, 4:30 p.m.
April 26 — at Hersey Invite, 3 p.m.
April 27 — at Hersey Invite, 8 a.m.
April 30 — at Maine West, 4:30 p.m.
May 1 — at Lake Forest, 4:30 p.m.
May 2 — hosts Vernon Hills, 4:30 p.m.
May 4 — at Barrington Quad, 9 a.m.
May 8 — hosts Glenbrook South, 4:30 p.m.
May 10 — at CSL North Conference, 3:30 p.m.
May 11 — at CSL North Conference, 8:30 a.m.
last year. We really have a
well-established group, so
that’s helpful with they few
guys that are new, the four
or five who are new to the
team. We have plenty of
guys who know the routine,
know the drills, know what
to expect, so that’s been
pretty helpful to see. So really,
we’re looking for one
to two guys to step in and
help out a little bit for the
guys who graduated?
How much do you guys
talk about winning the CSL
North given that it’s your
last year in the division?
We do start talking about,
but not until we start the
conference matches. That’s
a big motivation when
we’re playing Highland
Park or Deerfield to win the
conference and is usually
an attainable goal for us,
or something that is not out
of our reach. We might not
do it, but it’s something we
can always shoot for. We
haven’t talked about it at all
this year, but after spring
break when we start having
conference matches, that
will be something to speak
to. That’s where the team
part of it comes in because
you need to win four of the
seven matches. I don’t see
that changing that much
with us going to the other
side. We’ll have Glenbrook
South to compete with and
Maine South and certainly
New Trier is always strong,
but we’ll take the same approach.
We’re not necessarily
worried about that.
Listen Up
“I dreamed about it as a kid but I never knew how
real it could be.”
Jesse Compher — The Northbrook native on making
the United States Women’s Nation hockey team.
tunE in
What to watch this week
The Glenbrook North girls track and field team hosts
the Spartan Relays on Friday, April 5.
4:30 p.m., Friday, April 5 at GBN
Index
36 - Loyola Academy
35 - Boys Swimming
Fastbreak is compiled by The Tower’s staff. Send comments to
m.dwojak@22ndcenturymedia.com.