Drury has healthy numbers

NORTH ADAMS -- As if playing its home games on the road in 2006 wasn't enough for an explanation, Drury tennis head coach Whitney Suters feels that the sport is underappreciated in North Adams. However, he hopes to change that, even if it's one player at a time.

The Blue Devil boys and girls went 1-15 last season, but it's not about the wins and losses for Suters.

"None of my kids ever played before high school," he said. "But I'm pleasantly surprised with how both teams look so far and we're only a couple of weeks in.

"I'm not going to project any wins out there because that doesn't matter. The wins will come. It's about learning to be a player and how to play the game. That's our philosophy. When you're a player, wins come."

The good news is he has plenty of kids who want to learn and want to play. The roster numbers around 35 or so and Suters will take the best 12 or 13 of them to each match.

"We have a bigger roster this year," senior captain Mike LaRocca said. "So we have a bigger pool to choose from and this is only going to make us stronger."

The roster size seems kind of large since nearly two-thirds of them won't even see action in a

game during the season. However, the purpose is to promote the sport and make it more popular in the area, so the more the merrier.

"I like to teach people the sport," Suters said. "It's a lifelong sport. And because I feel that it's very undervalued in North Adams, I want to teach as many people as possible. That way they can spread the word by continuing to play it and pass it on to their friends and even their children some day, too. The good news is things are starting to turn around because we have new courts at (MCLA) and new courts downtown now."

Adding to the growing roster size is the fact that Suters doesn't believe in cutting anybody.

"All the coaches voted last year to have no cuts," he said. "This year there was a couple who voted it back in, but I still believe in keeping everybody around, so I can teach them and they can learn the game. Because even if they never play it again after high school, or after college, at least they tried it out and learned something new."

Having a larger pool of players to choose from for his lineup has been nice for Suters, but having returning players always helps, too. The top returnees for the boys are senior captain Brian Dowling, who will hold down the No. 1 spot, followed by sophomore Jared Gale, who Suters feels has the fastest serve in Berkshire County, at No. 2. LaRocca will compete in the No. 3 position, while Colter Suters (coach Suters' son) and Luke Demers will be doubles partners again.

On the ladies' side, senior captain Jamie Haring has shown vast improvement from year-to-year to earn the No. 1 spot. However, freshman newcomer Sarah McTowsky has shown tons of promise early on and could easily slide up from the No. 2 hole to the top. Jeanna Tinney has never played before but she has a natural swing and has been beating some of the better players on a consistent basis. Rounding out the singles players at No. 4 will be senior Brittany Sage. In doubles, senior Heidi Shartrand and sophomore Taylor Pry will team up, while freshmen Amy Dubec and Hannah Kittler will form another pair.

With a large team that has "pleasantly surprised" its coach, the Drury boys and girls will look to leave '07's 1-15 season in the dust.