The deep, flexible and big-match tested Wildcats are set to open their season at Hawken School on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Saint Ignatius' tennis outlook is courtesy of head coach Jon Barker '87 and posted by Eddie Dwyer.

FROM COACH BARKER

"I'm pretty excited about the upcoming season. We have six of our seven starters returning and I think we'll have our strongest team in years.

"To help everyone reach his potential, we have put together what is probably the toughest schedule in our team history. We're playing a schedule stacked with the best teams in Northeast Ohio and even some from farther away, including St. Xavier and Lexington. We may take some lumps throughout the season, but the guys will definitely be match tough by the end-of-the-year tournaments.

"Last year's freshman phenom, Nate Griffin, is back at the number one spot. Nate made it down to the State Tournament last year and advanced to the quarterfinal round before losing to the eventual state runner-up. Nate's competition this year is fierce, as nearly every team we face this srping has an ace number one player. Obviously, Nate will be looking to improve on last year's performance throughout the season and at the tournament.

"We lost one starting senior from last year, but we have a number of talented guys looking to fill that spot. The core of the team, including seniors Bob Kirchner, Sean Frebes and Nick Siciliano, juniors Christian Zuber, Yaw Boakye and Jack Napoli, and sophomore Karl Fehn, have all improved in the off-season and make this the deepest, most talented squad I've coached. We have a lot of lineup flexibility, which can be a challenge, but obviously it's a nice problem to have.

"Bobby Kirchner has developed into something of a doubles specialist over his four years and it's nice to have a solid upperclassman locked in to one of our doubles spots. After Bobby, though, the possibilities are many, because just about everyone is tough in both singles and doubles.

"We had more guys try out for the team this year than in quite a few years. As such, and in order to accommodate some of the seniors who wouldn't otherwise crack the varsity lineup, we organized a Varsity B team and schedule. Needless to say, between the Varsity A and B teams and the JV squad, it's going to be a busy and exciting spring."

For a complete look at the Wildcats' Varsity A, Varsity B and Junior Varsity schedules, go to www.ignatius.edu, click on athletics and click on tennis.